Time for feedback.
Well I found a firmware update for the GSA-4167B on LG US site (same on Softpedia). It was the same as the one I downloaded from FirmwareHQ, just packaged differently.
Even though the burner was on the end of a USB connection, not on the secondary IDE (on a laptop?) of the motherboard as instructed by LG, I decided to update figuring it might be time for a nice, shiny, new, BlueRay burner. I'm good at rationalisation .
I crossed my fingers and held my breath and... flash successful! Upgraded from DL10 to DL13.
The same portion of the log file as in my original post now looks like:
I 09:56:53 Device: [0:0:0] HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4167B DL13 (E:) (USB)
I 09:56:53 Family Tree:
I 09:56:53 -> Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC
I 09:56:53 -> Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
I 09:56:53 -> PCI bus
I 09:56:53 -> Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller (PCI bus 0, device 16, function 3) (VEN_1106&DEV_3104 - VIA - usbehci)
I 09:56:53 -> USB Root Hub
I 09:56:53 -> USB Mass Storage Device (USB TO IDE)
I 09:56:53 -> CD-ROM Drive (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4167B USB Device)
Tried again burn that failed previously and this time it completed successfully I burned the 8x Verbatim AZO media at 2.4x.
Thanks again mmalves for the suggestion and encouragement.