Just picked up one of these drives at Best Buy. On the box it says you can improve the DVD-RAM speed by installing a firmware upgrade. Of course, such firmware is elusive! I checked LG’s website – nothing. I checked rpc1.org – also nothing. All over the web there’s lots of information on the 4165B and the 4167B, but the 4166B seems nearly invisible. What’s the difference between these three drives, and has anyone found a 4166B firmware upgrade? (Current version is 1.0.)
–Steve
DSA?
I think it’s an GSA - and that are OEM drives!
So your firmware request should go to this OEM / Original Equipment Manufacturer.
Could you run Discinfo and post it’s output here?
You’re right, it’s a GSA, my bad.
Here’s the output of DiscInfo:
DISCINFO VERSION : 1.5.5.9
VENDOR : HL-DT-ST
MODEL : DVDRRW GSA-4166B
REVISION : 1.00
VENDOR SPECIFIC : 05/09/09
LOADING MECHANISM : Tray
SERIAL NUMBER : 0159ID0;
NUMBER VOL. LEVELS : 255
BUFFER SIZE : 2048KB
INTERFACE : ATAPI
RPC2 SCHEME : YES
STATUS : Set
USER CHANGES : 4
VENDOR CHANGES : 4
CURRENT REGION : 1
ANALOG AUDIO PLAY : YES
COMPOSITE OUTPUT : NO
DIGITAL PORT-PORT1 : NO
DIGITAL PORT-PORT2 : NO
READ UPC CODE : YES
MULTISESSION READ : YES
MODE 2 FORM 1 : YES
MODE 2 FORM 2 : YES
READ ISRC CODE : YES
READ BAD CODE : NO
BUFFER UNDER-RUN : YES
MT. RAINIER : NO
CAN READ CDR : YES
CAN READ CDRW : YES
CAN READ CDRM2 : YES
CAN WRITE CDR : YES
CAN WRITE CDRW : YES
CAN TEST WRITE : YES
CAN READ DVD-ROM : YES
CAN READ DVD-R : YES
CAN READ DVD-RW : YES
CAN READ DVD-RAM : YES
CAN READ DVD+R : YES
CAN READ DVD+RW : YES
CAN WRITE DVD-R : YES
CAN WRITE DVD-RW : YES
CAN WRITE DVD-RAM : YES
CAN WRITE DVD+R : YES
CAN WRITE DVD+RW : YES
MAX CDR READ SPEED : 48
MAX CDR WRITE SPEED: 48
But no firmware available yet.
I also have a GSA 4166. The DVD RAM speed should be at least 5x if you have 5x media. But I have the problem to use the Panasonic / BHA DVD RAM Driver. It does not work properly. I tried the latest BHA driver and the latest Panasonic, both the same problem…
Can you use the Panasonic DVD RAM driver?
As far as I remember my retail box, it says on the box a firmware update can speed up DVD-R (DL)… not DVD RAM
What operating system are you using? Windows XP supports DVD-RAM without the need for any drivers. Before you can write to a DVD-RAM, though, you’ve got to do two things. First, disable support for CD writing by following the steps in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826510. Then format the disc in the drive, which converts the file system from UDF (read-only in Windows) to FAT32. Now you can write to the DVD-RAM disc just like it were any other ordinary drive.
–Steve
I have Win200 and XP PCs. So I need the DVD RAM driver for Win2000. And in my opinion UDF is the better file system for DVD RAM.
The DVD RAM driver works perfect with my TEAC DV-W324ES, UJ-83x and SW-9574-C. Only the GSA 4166 does not work properly 
There is a newer firmware version for this drive. It ist available for download at http://www.lgservice.com/gcsc/b2c/hom/main. Just click on your country and choose the GSA-4166B at “drivers” on the next page. The latest firmware is version 1.02