CH10LS20 (aka UH10LS20) Versus SH-B123A

[jalyst]

Having a hard time deciding which one to get!

As far as I can see, on paper the SH-B123A has slightly better specs overall.
But there's no decent reviews yet, & the SH-B123A doesn't have lightscribe!*

Is that a big deal.....
Do many of you heavy ODD users actually use lightscribe or labelflash a lot?
Or is it still more of a gimmick?

Any preference between the two and your rationale are greatly appreciated!

*Samsung Australia has decided not to bring the SH-B123L into the country.
So if I order the SH-B123L from overseas there'll be no local support...
And besides that, the SH-B123L is still rare overseas anyway!

[redk9258]

I've had two Lightscribe drives and have never used that feature. I've always been to cheap to buy the discs plus I hear it takes a long time to burn the image. I do have a printer that will print on DVD / CD but still have a bunch of regular media to use up before I buy some printable media.

[jalyst]

Is that primarily because......
1) it never worked well for you....
2) was too hard to get working well.
3) you couldn't be bothered due to the extra time/expense required

[Ian]

Lightscribe is a solid technology that works well. For me though, its a lot faster just to write on a disc with a Sharpie.

[jalyst]

Thanks Ian, you do make a very good point,
I guess there's rarely any need to have fancy images/txt if most of the content is for personal use.
Lightscribe aside....

If you were comparing both these drives on their merits, which would you pick?
I guess the SH-B123A has little merits to speak-of, given it's so new, but I think it's direct ancestor is the SH-B083x.

Cheers/night.

[Dartman]

I sometimes burn pictures on disks just for fun with label flash but like Ian it's just faster and easier to label with the many sharpies I have laying around.
If I want pretty labels I use my Epson R800 media capable printer.
I do have some LS blanks but so far have never actually burned a label or picture to one. The label flash version is pretty slow too and depending on the dye color it can look pretty good or barely be able to be seen.

[jalyst]

I didn't realise you could get printers to do a similar thing?
I might look into that as I'm due for a printer upgrade soon anyway!
With lightscribe not being a factor, which of the two would you be more inclined to pick?

Thank-you very much.

[Dartman]

Epson and Canon make good disk capable printers, the real Canons are available in Europe and the Epsons should be available pretty much everywhere. People argue about which one is best and the Epson ink tends to be spendy but there are aftermarket carts available cheaper then the originals and refillables and things that make it a bit better.
Hit some of the other sites like CD Freaks as I think they have quite a few threads up about which printers are best for media printing. You do have to buy printables disks in white or silver though to use so keep that in mind too.
I have a old R200 and a old but much newer R800 Epson that both can print to disks and they both work pretty well and are mostly usable right out of the box except for printable disks.
I'm sure others here have them and can jump in, you might even want to make a new thread asking about what folks here like too.

[jalyst]

Thanks for the further thoughts RE printers mate, tis appreciated.
Any preference for the two BD-Combos I'm comparing?
Which would you pick & briefly why, if you can spare the time.

Thanks again!

[Dartman]

Well I have a few LG burners that have been pretty good except they never seem to do many Firmware updates then they release another new one, but they always seem to work pretty well most of the time, and I have a GGW-H20L multi format BD burner and HD reader that has worked well so far.
BUT for your purpose of just probably playing and ripping movies I'd proably go with the Asus becuase it's slightly faster and that may save you time if you do a lot of ripping. If not get the cheaper of the two and be happy becuase both should be able to play any movie you stuff in them I'd think.
It sounds like both are just BD readers and DVD burners so other then the rip speed I think they'd be pretty similar.

[jalyst]

I think you meant Samsung not Asus, the SH-B123A is a Samsung...
Yeah they're both CD/DVD burner/reader + BD reader i.e. BD combo drives.

I have no need for a drive that reads/burns HD-DVD, don't see the point given it's a dead format.
Guess it's of use to someone who already owns some media in that format.

The price difference between the two is next-to-nothing, $4-5.....
It's a tough one, I guess it comes down to identifying what areas each is (at least in theory) stronger in.
And working out which set of strong points my needs overlap with most, easier said than done but!

[Dartman]

When I first got a HD player it was a A2 Toshiba HD DVD player for dirt cheap, then I got a boatload of movies for it while the format war raged on for a short period.
Got some really good movies for next to nothing and still have more HD DVD's then Blu Rays becuase until recently I felt BD's were way over priced.
I also picked up a nice demo Panasonic Blu Ray player when Toshiba bailed out as I knew soon there would be no more HD bargains and I'd have to have a BD player if I wanted newer movies.
Now they finally are offering some really good prices on older or first run BD movies so I've started buying them and soon I'll have surpassed my HD DVD collection, but at least I can still play or rip the HD DVD ones and I can also burn and play Blu Ray so it was the perfect drive for me when I got it.

[jalyst]

Grrrr...
Everywhere I've read says there's no difference between the ch10ls20 and uh10ls20.

Even LG's site seems to verify this....
http://www.lgsolutions.com/products/digital-storage/optical-disc-drives/blu-ray-drives-internal/uh10ls20-blu-ray-disc-combo-internal-sata-10x-supermulti-blue-lightscribe
http://www.lgsolutions.com/products/digital-storage/optical-disc-drives/blu-ray-drives-internal/ch10ls20-blu-ray-disc-combo-internal-sata-10x-super-multi-blue-lightscribe?archived=true

But when I look at CDRLabs, it seems to suggest they are slightly different
http://www.cdrlabs.com/Optical-Drives/LG-UH10LS20-Super-Multi-Blue-10x-BD-Combo.html
http://www.cdrlabs.com/Optical-Drives/LG-CH10LS20-Super-Multi-Blue-10x-BD-Combo.html

Frack I hope they're not, because CH10LS20 is the only version available in Australia.

[jalyst]

So assuming CDRLabs is accurate, here's CH10LS20 & SH-B123A specs.
I think the latter's missing quite a bit of detail, as it hasn't been reviewed by them.

http://www.cdrlabs.com/Optical-Drives/LG-CH10LS20-Super-Multi-Blue-10x-BD-Combo.html
http://www.cdrlabs.com/Optical-Drives/Samsung-SH-B123-12x-BD-Combo-Drive.html

I hope to find a good source or sources*...
And have all the specs from both drives neatly lined-up alongside one another before making a final decision.
If anyone knows of any that'd be an easy "copy&paste" job, please let me know.


*This'll be better for the samsung
http://www.samsungodd.com/Eng

[jalyst]

Frak it, can't be fraked.. I'm just getting the SH-B123A.
I'll have it soon if anyone wants me to provide bench data for the site's records?
Just tell me what apps I need to run.... Cheers

[Ian]

jalyst, please watch the f-bombs. This is a family website.

[jalyst]

My apologies, forgot that there may often be kiddies!
What apps do I need to run to give you bench data?
Would your preference have been the SH-B123A like dartman?

[Ian]

I normally use CD Speed for my benchmarks. I'm guessing most people would be interested in the drive's BD read speeds and its DVD writing quality.

[jalyst]

Thanks I'll post up the results.
Which drive seems most attractive to you & why?

[Ian]

The SH-S123A is an unknown at this point. The only real advantage it has over the LG is that it reads BD's at 12x.

The UH10LS20 has been out for a while now and despite the lack of firmware updates, its been pretty solid.

If I had to pick between the two, I'd go with the LG but thats just me.

[jalyst]

Thank-you Ian, I'm no closer to being 100% certain....
I'm going to have a chat with MCSE & Samsung patch ute devs to garner what support might be like.
If it's pretty crude and is likely to remain that way for some time, then I'll get the LG I guess...

[Ian]

I know that MCSE can remove the rip lock on the LG.

[jalyst]

Looks like support is very limited for the foreseeable future compared to the LG
http://club.myce.com/f61/mediacodespeed ... ost2543244
I'm now looking into whether support might be a bit better via the "samsung patch ute" route (from codeguys)

[jalyst]

In the absence of decent MCSE support....
Codeguys are the blokes to approach RE "samsung patch ute" support right?

I've tried their dedicated sub-forum at myce but they're not responding.
And there appears to be an issue with their email address....

Their site's down right now, but that's apparently their two main points of contact.
http://codeguys.rpc1.org/patchers.html

[Ian]

What exactly do you want them to do with the Samsung firmware? Make it region free?