Samsung SM-348B 48x/24x/48x/16x Combo Drive

[Kennyshin]

The long-awaited Samsung SM-348B have just appeared in Seoul. The retail price is 195,000 Won, or US$160. 48x CD writers in Seoul usually cost around 100,000 won. There are SM-348B/BOM and SM-348B/DOM listed in Danawa.

Here are the pictures on the Samsung ODD web site.

SM-348B/BOM
SM-348B/DOM

48x CD-R
24x CD-RW
48x CD-ROM Read
16x DVD-ROM Read

ExacLink

110ms CD-ROM average access time
130ms DVD-ROM average access time

PIO Mode 4, DMA Mode 2, UltraDMA Mode 2
EIDE/ATAPI
Internal

8MB buffer memory

The published specification says it can read DVD-R and DVD-RW but there's no mention about DVD+R and DVD+RW.

The current chairman of RDVDC is a Samsung executive. Samsung also has some DVD-R and DVD-RAM drives.

[Ian]

Those drives look so bad ass... I wish they'd sell retail versions of the black ones here in the US.

[craiger]

Will Samsung have them in the US soon? What processor would it take? I wonder if Plextor plans on a 48x24x48x16x combo drive?

[Kennyshin]

Update:

Samsung SM-348B retail price in South Korea is not 195,000 won. Samsung initially announced the price would be under 140,000 won. At the Samsung homepage, I found the suggested price is 139,000 won or a little over US$100. Therefore, it is reasonable to estimate the US retail price at anywhere between $50 to $80. The two stores selling the drive for 195,000 won must be overcharging the early buyers greatly. I've also heard the drive uses ALi chipset.

[Kennyshin]

Brainbox Review of Samsung SM-348B (Nov 28. In Korean-only.)



DVD-ROM reading graph.



SM-348B reading 7.5GB dual layer titles (Gladiator and Star Wars)



SM-348B reading DVD-R



SM-348B reading DVD+R

[Kennyshin]

The domestic/retail version of SM-348B is sold for about US$100 in Seoul now.

[craiger]

Any idea when the U.S. version will be available?

[BoGMan1a]

W O W ! ! Looks like the ultimate companion to a Sony DRU-500A. I wonder how well it rips DVD's? I guess I had better take a look at this for my next box. Maybe, by then, Liteon will have something for me to consider in this arena too . But this seriously looks like a world beater from a price/performance ratio. Well, maybe, we still have to see at what price they arrive on the US shores.

[Kennyshin]

LG and Samsung products are usually at least 30-50% cheaper in the US market.

[Kennyshin]

New firmware for Samsung SM-348B/COM T502.

T502 Download Link from the English Samsung ODD Firmware Page (Dec 9, 2002)

T502 Download Link from the Korean Samsung Electronics Page (Dec 7, 2002)

The newest firmware T502 of SM-348B.

Applied model: Global.

Improvement: Progress of disk cognitive faculty

On the Korean page, it says it has fixed some DVD play bugs due to region code in WinDVD v3.1 software. One person in CDRinfo.co.kr forum reports that the T502 allows changing the regional code up to four times instead of two times with T501 and Nero CD Speed overburning test now shows the simulation check box active with 870MB CD-R media inserted.

[Ian]

I had some CD-RW readback problems with the 501 firmware. Hopefully this will fix that.

The 501 firmware also made the drive read DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW media at 16x. The speeds dropped off part way through because of this.

[craiger]

Ian do you have SM-348B? What processor does it require?

[Ian]

PII 400mhz or higher.

[MikeTR]

Ian,

Since you have the SM-348B already, is there any chance you could do a review any time soon? [almost begging mode ]

It doesn't have to be a full blown review (although that would be nice), just the features, DVD ripping capabilities and your opinion. I just need to know if this is the drive I've been waiting for. Otherwise I'll have to wait untill LG brings out their 48/16 combo.

[Ian]

Ian,

Since you have the SM-348B already, is there any chance you could do a review any time soon? [almost begging mode ]

It doesn't have to be a full blown review (although that would be nice), just the features, DVD ripping capabilities and your opinion. I just need to know if this is the drive I've been waiting for. Otherwise I'll have to wait untill LG brings out their 48/16 combo.

Gimme some specific questions and I'll answer them the best I can.

[MikeTR]

OK, you asked 4 it.........

1. what DVD formats can it read and at what speed (-R/RW +R/RW)
2. does it support Mt. Rainier (probably not considering this NeroInfoTool shot from a Korean Site (KBench):



Kennyshin posted it in the CDFreaks forum and added that there were conflicting results going around the web. So it would be nice to get a confirmed result one way or the other.

3. How is the writing quality (WSES) (on good media like TY)
4. At what speed does it rip video and dual layer DVD's

As you can see it mainly are the DVD capabilities of the drive I'm interested in. That and the writing quality (although that seems to be a relative term).

Thanks for taking the effort.

[Ian]

1. It officially supports DVD-R/RW, but it had no problems reading DVD+R/RW discs. It reads these at about 6x CAV.
2. Nope.
3. Haven't tested this yet. The writing speeds and media compatibility are very good though.
4. Single layer DVD-Videos are ripped at 16x. Dual layer is at 6x. I know that the Korean website had it ripping dual at 8x, but I could not reproduce that. It might be the new firmware I'm using or something.

[MikeTR]

Wow, talk about a fast response time. Thanks.

So, the 16x DVD speed is only for single layer disks and the other DVD's are read at 6x. Is that the average or top speed? If it is the max, it is about the same speed as the LG GCC-4320B.

Kind of dissapointing in a way. I was finally hoping for a combo drive that featured a full speed DVD. I guess we'll have to wait for the new LG combo to see what they come up with. Untill then I'll stick with my trusted LTD-163 for ripping and reading.

P.S. please let us know how the new LG stacks up when you can get a peek at it (hope I'm not pushing you too hard).

[craiger]

Ian is that an American or Koren version of the SM-348B? Would the processor requirement change on the American version? I only have a P 2 350 with 256mb of ram. You said the SM-348B take a P2 400.

[Ian]

American version..

I am American.

[Kennyshin]

Kennyshin posted it in the CDFreaks forum and added that there were conflicting results going around the web. So it would be nice to get a confirmed result one way or the other.

Uh... I didn't say exactly that. I just said the new KBench.com reviewer didn't even test the drive's reading capability himself while the Brainbox.co.kr reviewer did test it with both DVD-R and DVD+R that were both readable without a problem.

[EDIT]

Here's what I replied on 9.

Originally posted by Kenshin

It seems the Brainbox.co.kr reviewer was able to read DVD+R media with SM-348B drive. The KBench.com reviewer who tested the drive is new to me and I think he's rather inexperienced (the least to say). He didn't even test the read capability with DVD-R/+R media himself (KBench is a $20 million company so hardly lack of resources).

I think SM-348B does not support Mt. Rainier at this time and no idea whether it will with future firmware updates.

[/EDIT]

@craiger

How could there be American version and Korean version in such issues? The US is the biggest market for both Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. The biggest manufacturing base for both companies is the mainland China. I can't imagine there could be such difference in PC hardware requirement.

[Kennyshin]

New firmware for Samsung SM-348B/COM T502.

T502 Download Link from the English Samsung ODD Firmware Page (Dec 9, 2002)

T502 Download Link from the Korean Samsung Electronics Page (Dec 7, 2002)

Updated again. T503 Firmware.

T503 Download Link from the English Samsung ODD Firmware Page (Dec 13, 2002)

T503 Download Link from the Korean Samsung Electronics Page (Dec 13, 2002)

The Korean SEC download page says it has added recordable media support (3 types of CD-R and 1 type of CD-RW media) to quote the page directly.

[Kennyshin]

New firmware for Samsung SM-348B/COM T502.

T502 Download Link from the English Samsung ODD Firmware Page (Dec 9, 2002)

T502 Download Link from the Korean Samsung Electronics Page (Dec 7, 2002)

Updated again. T503 Firmware.

T503 Download Link from the English Samsung ODD Firmware Page (Dec 13, 2002)

T503 Download Link from the Korean Samsung Electronics Page (Dec 13, 2002)

The Korean SEC download page says it has added recordable media support (3 types of CD-R and 1 type of CD-RW media) to quote the page directly.

T504 now available at Samsung Electronics Korean site.

1. Tray open bug fixed

2. Write strategy improved.

[Kennyshin]

http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Informati ... Manual.asp

http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Informati ... .%20en.pdf

Lots of Samsung ODD manuals added recently, especially on Dec. 10. I am reading SM-348 drive's English PDF file and it says Bulk Type has 2MB buffer and Retail Type has 8MB buffer. Why can't I find here a Korean-language file for SM-348B.

Future of Optical Discs



Infra-Red Laser?? Rel Laser???

[Kennyshin]

Nero InfoTool with T504 firmware.



From a user review by Do, Gyong-Tae.