Samsung SH-S203B 20x DVD±RW/RAM

Since its introduction, the SH-S203B has been the topic of many discussions here at CDRLabs. After having Samsung's new Serial ATA equipped DVD writer in the 'Labs for a few weeks, it's easy to see why. While affordably priced, the SH-S203B offers a good number of features as well as some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available.

The SH-S203B is the first drive from Samsung with the ability to write to both DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x. At this speed, it took the drive less than 5 minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD, beating both the Lite-On LH-20A1L and LG GSA-H55L by a small margin. The drive also did pretty well in our rewriting tests, turning in some respectable times with DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM media. Without compatible media, we weren't able to test the SH-S203B's full potential when writing to DVD±R DL media. However, when writing at 10x, the drive took a little more than 13 minutes to burn 8GB of data.

When it came to media compatibility, the SH-S203B gave us some mixed results. While the drive wrote toall of our test media at its rated speed or better, only three types worked at 20x. On the other hand, the SH-S203B's writing quality was fairly good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially with Ritek manufactured DVD±R DL media. Hopefully, Samsung can address this in a future firmware update.

Samsung's new drive also performed relatively well in our DVD read tests. The drive was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some very good seek times. Reading recordable media wasn't a problem for the SH-S203B either. In our tests, it read DVD±R discs at 16x, and DVD±RW, DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media at an impressive 12x.

When it came to reading CD's, the SH-S203B's performance was a mixed bag. While the drive read pressed media at speeds near 48x, its CD-R and CD-RW read speeds were limited to only 40x. This was a little disappointing considering most drives can read pressed and CD-R media at the same speed. The SH-S203B also lagged behind some of the other drives when writing CD's. It took longer than expected when writing to CD-R media and its Z-CLV writing method also put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. Nevertheless, the SH-S203B's writing quality was quite good.

Like Samsung's previous DVD writers, the SH-S203B isn't short on features. Along with support for all major CD and DVD formats, it has a 2MB buffer that is backed up by Super Link buffer underrun protection. While this buffer is a little smaller than what we'd like to see on a 20x DVD writer, this system worked flawlessly in our tests. The SH-S203B also includes support for the Mt. Rainier format and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media. To top it all off, Samsung has included a great software bundle from Nero.

For what it offers, Samsung's new "Super WriteMaster" drive is surprisingly affordable. Available in your choice of black or beige, the the SH-S203B can be picked up for less than $40 through some of the online vendors found on Pricegrabber.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL media at 16x
• Writes to DVD-R DL media at 12x
• Reads and writes DVD-RAM media at 12x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 12x
• Features 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
• Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
• Low seek times
• Features Super Link buffer underrun protection
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media
• Includes software from Nero
• Supports 99 minute media
• Supports the Mt. Rainier format
• Serial ATA interface
• Affordably priced

Lows:

• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R DL media
• Had a hard time reaching its rated speeds when reading pressed CD's
• Reads CD-R media at only 40x
• Slower than other drives when writing to CD-R and CD-RW media
• Only a 2048KB buffer