Model: Samsung SH-S203B 20x DVD±RW/RAM
Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics
Provided By: Samsung America and Samsung Canada
Samsung Electronics has been a leader in the electronics industry for more than 30 years. Since the introduction of their first television in 1970, this Korean company has grown to become one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers, offering everything from tiny semiconductors to large home appliances. Samsung is no stranger to the optical storage industry either. Working closely with companies like Toshiba, they've lead the way in this area, developing and manufacturing a wide range of products for the OEM and retail markets.
The latest addition to Samsung's already impressive line of DVD writers is the SH-S203B. Announced in June, this Serial ATA equipped "Super-WriteMaster" drive features some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available. The SH-S203B is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. On top of that, it's the first drive to offer both 16x DVD+R DL and 12x DVD-R DL writing speeds. The SH-S203B also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 32x rewriting speeds, Super Link buffer underrun protection and an impressive software bundle from Nero.
We've had the SH-S203B in the 'Labs for a few weeks now and have had the time to put it through its paces. To give you an idea of what to expect from Samsung's new DVD writer, we'll take a look at its features and then see how it compares to some of the 18x and 20x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the SH-S203B have what it takes? Is it the fastest DVD writer around? Read on to see what we had to say.
What's in the box?:
- Samsung SH-S203B 20x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- Software Installation and Electronic User's Manual CD
- Setup Guide
- SATA Cable
- SATA Power Cable
- Mounting Screws
- Warranty Information
Physical Features:
The drive Samsung sent us for this review was manufactured in May of 2007 and came preloaded with firmware SB00.For this review we used firmware versions SB00 and SB01.
The SH-S203B looks very similar to Samsung's previous Serial ATA equipped DVD writer, the SH-S183A. While there are a few slight cosmetic differences, the two drives share the same basic design and have many of the same logos. Along with the large "Samsung" logo, you can see a few showing support for the DVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications, as well as Ultra Speed CD-RW media.
Below the tray you can see the SH-S203B's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up green when the drive is reading or writing.
The rear of the SH-S203B is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's SATA interface and power connector.
Technical Specs:
The specs below have been taken from Samsung's website and the manual located on the software CD.
Samsung SH-S203B 20x DVD±RW/RAM | |
CD Write Speeds | 48x (CAV) 40x, 32x, 24x (P-CAV) 16x, 8x (CLV) |
CD Rewrite Speeds | 32x, 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
DVD+R Write Speeds | 20x, 18x, 16x, 12x (CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x (CLV) |
DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
DVD-R Write Speeds | 20x, 18x, 16x, 12x (CAV) 8x, (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2x (CLV) |
DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x, 10x, 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 12x, 10x, 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 12x (P-CAV) 5x, 3x, 2x (CLV) |
DVD Read Speeds | 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 12x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 16x Max (DVD±R) 12x Max (DVD±RW) 12x Max (DVD±R DL) 12x Max (DVD-RAM) |
CD Read Speeds | 48x Max (CD-ROM) 40x Max (CD-R/CD-RW) |
DAE Speed | 40x Max |
Buffer Size | 2 MB |
Random Access Times |
110 ms (CD) 130 ms (DVD) |
CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM CD-ROM XA CD-R CD-RW CD+E(G) CD-MIDI Mixed Mode CD Photo CD Video CD CD-Extra CD-I CD-I Bridge Multisession CD CD-Text |
DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD-RAM |
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that Samsung's new DVD writer is identified as a "TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203B."
Nero shows that the SH-S203B has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer, which is backed up by MediaTek's Super Link technology. According to Nero, Samsung's new DVD writer can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the SH-S203B is a "two sheep" burner and is capable of backing titles protected by SafeDisc 2.90. Like most drives, it did not pass the "three sheep" test.
Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the SH-S203B's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the SH-S203B is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the SH-S203B's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see Samsung's new drive supports the Mt. Rainier format and can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media.
Samsung's new DVD writer also supports a feature called "bitsetting".Using software like Nero, you can set the book type forDVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media to "DVD-ROM". This feature comes in handy if you have an older DVD player that has problems playing recordable media.
Samsung has once again turned to Nero for their software bundle. The CD that comes with the SH-S203B contains the Nero 7 Essentials suite which includes Nero Express, Nero Vision, Nero Recode, Nero BackItUp, Nero ShowTime and InCD.
Nero Express 7 - With Nero Express, Nero has taken the features and performance people have come to expect from Nero Burning Rom and combined them with a user friendly interface. Redesigned to maximize ease-of-use, Nero Express gives users the ability to quickly and easily burn audio, data and video to CD or DVD.
The version of Nero Express that Samsung included with their new DVD±RW drive is 7.5.9.1. You can download the latest version of the software from Nero's website.
Nero Vision 4 - Nero Vision 4 is the latest version of Nero's video authoring application. Thanks to a user friendly interface, Nero Vision makes it easy for users to capture, edit and then burn their favorite videos to VCD, SVCD or DVD or export it to Nero Digital format.
Nero Vision also lets users add things like transitions, custom backgrounds, animated menus and text effects. You can even use it to turn your photos into custom slide shows.
Nero Recode 2 - This program from Nero can copy unprotected DVD videos onto recordable DVD media. If the source disc is larger than 4.7GB, Nero Recode 2 has the ability to remove unwanted material and compress the contents so that it will fit onto a single blank DVD disc.
Nero Recode 2 will also let you convert your DVD movies to Nero Digital. Using Nero's own MPEG-4 audio and video encoder, an entire DVD movie can be compressed so that it will fit onto a CD. Better yet, Nero Recode 2 does this with little loss of quality.
Nero BackItUp 2 - If you're looking for a way to quickly and easily backup your data, Nero BackItUp is the answer. This program from Nero lets you backup your data to CD/DVD, hard drive, image recorderor another computer on your LAN.
Nero ShowTime 3 - Nero ShowTime is Nero's software DVD player. Along with support for DVD's, ShowTime can be used to play back VCD's, SVCD's and miniDVD's as well as any MPEG, AVI or Nero Digital files you might have on your hard drive.
InCD 5 - InCD is Nero's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Sonic's DLA, it allows a person to use their CD-RW or DVD±RW drive as a big floppy disk. The person can then drag and drop files onto a CD-RW or DVD±RW disc. Many people consider InCD to be one of the best packet writing tools because of its simplicity and performance.
With the SH-S203B, Samsung has delivered yet another feature packed DVD writer. This Serial ATA equipped "Super WriteMaster" drive not only supports all major DVD formats, it sports some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available. The SH-S203B is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. More importantly, it's the first drive to offer both 16x DVD+R DL and 12x DVD-R DL writing speeds. Samsung's new drive also includes features like Super Link buffer underrun protection, support for bitsetting and a great software bundle from Nero. With all this, it's easy to see why the SH-S203B gets a 9 out of 10 for its features.
Along with smaller cable size, one of the biggest benefits of Serial ATA is its ease of installation. Because it uses a point to point connection, setting jumpers has become a thing of the past. In most cases, installation is as simple as plugging in the SATA and power cables and turning the computer on. Needless to say, it took only a couple of minutes to install Samsung's new DVD writer in our test computer. After making sure that the SH-S203B was recognized by Windows, I was ready to start installing the software.
Software Installation:
As I mentioned earlier, the SH-S203B comes with a CD full of software from Nero. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu shown below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.
As you can see, this menu is pretty straight forward. To install the writing software, you will want to choose the "Install Nero OEM Suite" option. After that, you will be taken to the Nero installation menu.
By default the the setup program for Nero 7 Essentials will install everything but InCD onto your computer. If you don't want to install the entire suite, select the custom installation. From here you can choose the components you want. Once you reboot, you'll be ready to start burning your own discs.
Documentation:
Most of the SH-S203B's documentation is located on the software CD in electronic format. While I'm not usually a big fan of this sort of thing, Samsung has gone the extra mile here.Instead of just throwing a few PDF files onto the CD, Samsung has created an easy to navigate, HTML based guide.
The guide starts out by going over the buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the SH-S203B. Everything is labeled clearly and the functions of each are explained very well. The guide continues on by going over the physical installation of the drive. With no jumpers to configure, this section is relatively brief. Nevertheless, it covers all of the basics including how to install the drive into an empty bay and hook up the cables.
The guide finishes up by going over the basic operation of the SH-S203B. Along with information on how to use and maintain the drive, there is a short troubleshooting section containing a list of common problems as well as their solutions. Last but not least, Samsung has provided a comprehensive list of specifications for the SH-S203B.
The SH-S203B also comes with a small "Setup Guide". Like the manual, this fold out guide goes over the drive's buttons and connectors. It also contains a set of instructions that take you step by step through the installation process. While a little short on words, Samsung has included a number of diagrams showing what to do. For most people, the "Setup Guide" will be all they'll need to get the drive up and running.
Like Samsung's previous DVD writers, the SH-S203B was very easy to install. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. If you do run into trouble, the documentation Samsung has provided is pretty good, even though most of it is in electronic format. Overall, I give the installation a 9 out of a possible 10.
While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.
Test System:
CPU: | AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz | |
Motherboard: | ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe with BIOS 0304 | |
Memory: | Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400 | |
Video Card: | MSI NX7900GT-T2D256E - ForceWare v93.71 | |
Hard Drive: | Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 320GB | |
Operating System: | Windows XP SP2 - NVIDIA nForce v9.16 |
For DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.
CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.5 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.
CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.
DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.5 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.
DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.
CD Winbench 99 Scores:
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
CD Winbench 99 | 2190 KB/sec | 2140 KB/sec | 1638 KB/sec | 1810 KB/sec |
Transfer Rate: Inside | 3070 KB/sec | 3025 KB/sec | 3060 KB/sec | 3295 KB/sec |
Transfer Rate: Outside | 6450 KB/sec | 6470 KB/sec | 6390 KB/sec | 6560 KB/sec |
Random Access Time | 84ms | 95ms | 100ms | 95ms |
CPU Utilization | 2.11% | 0.45% | 0.45% | 0.41% |
The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.
Samsung's new DVD writer performed pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. In the transfer rate tests, the SH-S203B started reading at 20.5x (3070 / 150) on the inside and reached a maximum speed of about 43x (6450 / 150) on the outside. The drive's access time and overall score were also quite good. However, its CPU utilization was a little higher than I would have liked.
CD Speed v4.7.5 - Pressed CD:
For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
35.97x 20.88x 47.57x |
36.07x 21.40x 47.68x |
35.57x 20.47x 47.04x |
36.54x 20.89x 48.30x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
98ms 104ms 174ms |
97ms 112ms 169ms |
103ms 104ms 174ms |
105ms 114ms 178ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
0% 1% 2% 4% |
1% 3% 5% 8% |
0% 1% 2% 4% |
0% 1% 3% 6% |
The SH-S203B didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 48x, Samsung's new drive came up a little short of this number in our tests.
CD Speed v4.7.5 - CD-R Media:
For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
31.31x 18.08x 41.50x |
36.85x 21.10x 48.84x |
36.35x 20.75x 48.16x |
31.43x 17.83x 41.64x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
97ms 104ms 175ms |
97ms 112ms 163ms |
108ms 119ms 178ms |
103ms 110ms 180ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
0% 1% 2% 5% |
2% 4% 7% 10% |
0% 1% 2% 4% |
1% 1% 3% 6% |
The SH-S203B wasn't nearly as fast when reading CD-R media. Like the SH-S182D, it reached a maximum transfer speed of only 41x.
Samsung's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The SH-S203B read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 44.67x.
CD Speed v4.7.5 - CD-RW Media:
For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
30.75x 17.95x 40.61x |
25.64x 14.90x 33.85x |
31.24x 18.10x 41.27x |
30.87x 17.67x 40.75x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
97ms 102ms 172ms |
108ms 122ms 194ms |
106ms 118ms 177ms |
102ms 109ms 178ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
0% 1% 2% 5% |
2% 10% 8% 14% |
0% 1% 2% 4% |
1% 1% 3% 6% |
Samsung's new drive also reads CD-RW media at 40x. As you can see, the SH-S203B had no problem reaching this speed in our tests.
CD DAE and CD Speed v4.7.5 - Pressed CD:
For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.
Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that the Samsung SH-S203B supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.
CD Speed | Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream: |
30.94x 17.85x 40.88x 10 Yes |
36.41x 21.27x 48.12x 10 Yes |
31.43x 18.12x 41.52x 10 Yes |
31.09x 17.78x 41.08x 10 Yes |
The SH-S203B did fairly well in our DAE tests. While not nearly as fast as the drive from Lite-On, it hadno problems ripping pressed audio CD's at 40x.
To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.
CD DAE | Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
Average: Min: Max: |
29.3x 18.7x 40.1x |
34.0x 21.9x 47.2x |
28.9x 18.9x 40.6x |
29.1x 18.7x 40.2x |
Errors | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
While the SH-S203B started out a little faster when extracting our test CD with CD DAE, its average and maximum speeds were slower than what we saw with CD Speed.
CD DAE and CD Speed v4.7.5 - CD-R Media:
For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.
CD Speed | Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream: |
30.65x 17.76x 40.42x 10 Yes |
36.08x 21.33x 47.58x 10 Yes |
31.14x 18.16x 41.08x 10 Yes |
30.80x 17.67x 40.62x 10 Yes |
While the SH-S203B was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media, this didn't keep it from reaching amaximum DAE speed of 40x in our tests. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.
Samsung's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 29.14x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the SH-S203B was able to read the CD-Text and subchannel data but failed to read the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.
CD DAE | Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
Average: Min: Max: |
29.0x 18.6x 39.6x |
33.8x 21.9x 46.6x |
28.7x 18.9x 40.0x |
29.0x 18.7x 40.0x |
Errors | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
To see how well Samsung's DVD writer can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.
CD Speed - ScanDisc
The SH-S203B handled scratched discs relatively well. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 58.7% of the CD to be "damaged". More importantly, none of the sectors on the disc were unreadable.
You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.
CD DAE | Avg. Speed | Errors | % of Disc |
Samsung SH-S203B |
28.9x | 2418290 | 0.31% |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
2.1x | 3869615 | 0.50% |
LG GSA-H55L |
10.6x | 2136523 | 0.27% |
Samsung SH-S182D |
28.9x | 2099160 | 0.27% |
Here too, the SH-S203B did pretty well. The scratches on the disc had little effect on the drive's speed and the number of errors remained relatively low.
CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.9.6.0 andDLA 5.20:
For this test I randomly generated 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.
Samsung's new "Super-Multi" drive has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Fuji's 48x media, the drive started writing at about 21.46x and reached a maximum speed of 48.07x at the end of the session. This gave the SH-S203B an average writing speed of about 36.64x.
To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fujimedia rated at 48x. The results are below.
Size in MB | Size in Time | Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
701MB | 79:44:21 | 3:00 | 2:40 | 2:44 | 2:47 |
The SH-S203B took longer than expected to complete our CD writing tests. In our tests, it trailed behind the other drives, taking 3:00 to write an entire 701MB CD.
To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.
The LH-20A1L's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all.
For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.
While the SH-S203B uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of three "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 9 minute mark.The SH-S203B writes at this speed until about the 29 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the end of the session.
Software | Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
Nero | 2:22 | 2:34 | 2:40 | 2:20 |
DLA Write | 3:28 | 2:38 | 2:33 | 3:26 |
DLA Read | 1:27 | 1:38 | 2:20 | 1:36 |
Samsung's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives we've tested. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the LH-20A1L took 2:22 to write 400MB with Nero and a whopping 3:28 to do the same with DLA.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Quick Erase | 18 seconds | 16 seconds | 14 seconds | 22 seconds |
Full Erase | 3:15 | 3:39 | 5:01 | 3:18 |
The SH-S203B also erases at 32x. While it didn't have the fastest quick erase time out of the four drives here, it was able to do a full erase in a respectable 3:15.
Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-ROM:
A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.
The CD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
12.13x 6.72x 16.21x |
12.14x 5.36x 16.08x |
12.00x 6.54x 16.05x |
12.21x 6.75x 16.31x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
96ms 113ms 186ms |
94ms 106ms 166ms |
119ms 148ms 215ms |
96ms 113ms 184ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
9% 6% 10% 20% |
3% 7% 12% 86% |
5% 9% 18% 34% |
13% 12% 22% 41% |
The SH-S203B performed very well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.72x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.21x.Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times and CPU usage were also quite good.
Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:
First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.
Verbatim DVD-R
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
12.16x 6.72x 16.25x |
12.18x 5.81x 16.28x |
12.03x 6.59x 16.08x |
9.14x 5.04x 12.21x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
116ms 132ms 202ms |
122ms 126ms 203ms |
127ms 164ms 234ms |
107ms 117ms 190ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
11% 6% 12% 24% |
4% 7% 23% n/a |
6% 10% 19% 36% |
9% 13% 28% 52% |
Verbatim DVD-RW
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
9.03x 4.99x 12.08x |
9.23x 5.08x 12.34x |
9.13x 5.01x 12.20x |
6.24x 3.45x 8.35x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
122ms 137ms 213ms |
124ms 134ms 273ms |
133ms 182ms 265ms |
105ms 124ms 193ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
9% 6% 11% 20% |
5% 9% 26% n/a |
6% 10% 19% 37% |
6% 13% 26% 47% |
Verbatim DVD-R DL
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
9.23x 5.13x 12.30x |
9.19x 5.07x 12.25x |
9.08x 5.04x 12.11x |
6.26x 3.48x 8.34x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
122ms 137ms 206ms |
121ms 130ms 204ms |
154ms 193ms 266ms |
115ms 117ms 195ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: |
12% 8% 15% |
7% 99% n/a |
6% 10% 19% |
10% 12% n/a |
The SH-S203B had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 16x, and both DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media at a respectable 12x.
Maxell 12x DVD-RAM
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
10.20x 5.91x 12.02x |
10.23x 5.93x 12.00x |
10.24x 5.93x 12.03x |
10.27x 5.99x 12.06x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
138ms 157ms 253ms |
177ms 205ms 341ms |
175ms 204ms 274ms |
128ms 130ms 222ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
15% 9% 12% 19% |
13% 9% 15% n/a |
5% 10% 18% 36% |
14% 12% 23% 44% |
Samsung's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 12x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 5.91x and accelerates, reaching 12x at the 2.7GB mark.
Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:
Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.
Verbatim DVD+R
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
12.14x 6.73x 16.23x |
12.16x 5.77x 16.26x |
12.04x 6.58x 16.11x |
9.12x 5.03x 12.20x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
114ms 132ms 202ms |
119ms 132ms 212ms |
127ms 162ms 244ms |
105ms 113ms 189ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
12% 6% 11% 23% |
6% 7% 25% 90% |
6% 10% 19% 37% |
10% 13% 32% 52% |
Verbatim DVD+RW
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
9.03x 5.00x 12.08x |
9.23x 5.10x 12.34x |
9.13x 5.04x 12.20x |
6.24x 3.45x 8.34x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
122ms 137ms 205ms |
140ms 159ms 263ms |
138ms 184ms 268ms |
104ms 119ms 194ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
9% 6% 11% 21% |
13% 10% 31% 98% |
6% 10% 19% 36% |
6% 13% 28% 46% |
The SH-S203B's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.The drive read DVD+R discs at 16x and DVD+RW media at 12x.
Verbatim DVD+R DL
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
9.23x 5.12x 12.30x |
9.19x 5.02x 12.26x |
9.09x 5.02x 12.11x |
6.26x 3.48x 8.34x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
122ms 134ms 204ms |
112ms 119ms 190ms |
153ms 186ms 273ms |
119ms 129ms 202ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: |
12% 8% 15% |
28% 7% n/a |
5% 10% 18% |
10% 12% n/a |
Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't an issue for the SH-S203B either. The drive started reading at 5.12x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 12.30x.
Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-Video:
For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
12.00x 6.65x 16.05x |
12.02x 5.36x 16.08x |
6.03x 3.33x 8.07x |
12.08x 6.65x 16.15x |
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
95ms 112ms 181ms |
94ms 106ms 165ms |
126ms 153ms 217ms |
95ms 109ms 183ms |
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
9% 5% 11% 22% |
3% 7% 12% 86% |
5% 9% 18% 38% |
12% 12% 21% 41% |
The SH-S203B didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 6.65x and reached a maximum read speed of 16.05x. Samsung's new drive was also fairly quick when reading dual layer discs. By looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive's transfer speeds peaked at about 12x.
To see how well the SH-S203B worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using Nero Showtime. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.
DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.9.6.0 andDLA 5.20:
To test the DVD writing performance of LG's new drive I used Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD+R, Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R, Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and Verbatim 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.
When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 20x, the SH-S203B uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Samsung's new drive starts writing at about 8.3x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.
The SH-S203B also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. While the drive uses CLV when writing to DVD-RW media, it uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
DVD+R | 4:54 | 5:08 | 5:16 | 5:38 |
DVD-R | 4:41 | 5:05 | 4:47 | 5:30 |
DVD+RW | 7:31 | 8:04 | 7:40 | 8:48 |
DVD-RW | 10:02 | 10:47 | 10:20 | 10:50 |
Samsung's new "Super WriteMaster" drive performed very well in our DVD writing tests. The SH-S203B turned in some of the fastest DVD±R and DVD±RW writing times we've seen, beating both the LH-20A1L and GSA-H55L by a small margin.
To check the media compatibility of the SH-S203B, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.
Manufacturer ID | Max Write Speed |
Average Write Time |
|
Daxon 16x DVD+R | DAXONAZ3 | 16x | 5:50 |
Memorex 16x DVD+R | RICOHJPN R03 | 18x | 5:16 |
RiDATA 16x DVD+R | RITEKR04 | 16x | 5:46 |
Sony 16x DVD+R | SONYD21 | 16x | 5:48 |
Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD+R | YUDEN000T03 | 20x | 4:54 |
Verbatim 16x DVD+R | MCC-004 | 20x | 4:55 |
Daxon 16x DVD-R | DAXON016S | 16x | 5:44 |
Memorex 16x DVD-R | CMC MAG.AM3 | 18x | 5:08 |
RiDATA 16x DVD-R | RITEKF1 | 16x | 6:01 |
Sony 16x DVD-R | SONY16D1 | 18x | 5:08 |
Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R | TYG03 | 20x | 4:41 |
Verbatim 16x DVD-R | MCC 03RG20 | 16x | 5:07 |
So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640 (firmware BSLB). When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.
So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.
I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.
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The SH-S203B's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.
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Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were pretty good for the most part.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
DVD+RW Quick | 3 seconds | 5 seconds | 5 seconds | 3 seconds |
DVD+RW Full | 7:28 | 8:07 | 7:31 | 8:38 |
DVD-RW Quick | 27 seconds | 57 seconds | 27 seconds | 27 seconds |
DVD-RW Full | 9:56 | 10:52 | 10:26 | 10:50 |
To test the SH-S203B's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
DVD+RW Write | 6:44 | 7:15 | 7:02 | 7:53 |
DVD+RW Read | 6:46 | 6:12 | 6:38 | 8:57 |
DVD-RW Write | 8:25 | 9:02 | 8:24 | 9:15 |
DVD-RW Read | 6:55 | 6:12 | 6:31 | 8:59 |
DVD-RAM Write | 12:50 | 13:52 | 13:12 | 13:50 |
DVD-RAM Read | 6:17 | 5:28 | 5:32 | 5:26 |
Samsung's new drive performed pretty well in our packet writing tests. The SH-S203B turned in some impressive times when writing to DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM media, but wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when reading the data back.
Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.9.6.0:
To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the SH-S203B, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from MAM-A, Memorex, RiDATA and Verbatim. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.
While the SH-S203B is capable of writing to DVD+R DL media at 16x, discs rated at this speed have not gone into mass production yet. We tried getting pre-production samples from Samsung and Ricoh, but our contacts could not provide any. Once 16x DVD+R DL media starts to ship, I'll go back and rerun these tests. In the meantime, here are some results with media that is currently available
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
DVD+R DL Write | 13:07 | 17:48 | 14:12 | 18:34 |
Even without 16x DVD+R DL media, the SH-S203B did very well in this test. When writing at 10x, the drive took a little more than 13 minutes to write 8001MB of data. If you do the math, this is a good minute faster than the GSA-H55L and more than four minutes faster than the LH-20A1L and SH-S182D. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.
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The writing quality was pretty good with the DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and MAM-A. Aside from a few isolated spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good with Memorex's 2.4x DVD+R DL media. When tested with KProbe and CD Speed, the error rates were very high at the layer change.
The SH-S203B also features 12x DVD-R DL writing speeds. Unfortunately, media capable of these speeds isn't available yet either. Once discs rated at this speed start to ship, I'll go back and rerun these tests. Until then, here are some results with media that is currently available.
Samsung SH-S203B |
Lite-On LH-20A1L |
LG GSA-H55L |
Samsung SH-S182D |
|
DVD-R DL Write | 13:36 | 18:33 | 13:26 | 18:43 |
The SH-S203B performed very well when writing to DVD-R DL media. While not as fast as the GSA-H55L, the drive took only 13:36 to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.
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While the writing quality was fairly good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media, their new 8x rated discs yielded some mixed results. The error rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with KProbe. However, when scanned by the DW1640, the PI rates were a bit higher than we'd like to see. The worst results were with RiDATA's 4x DVD-R DL media. Looking at the CD Speed screenshot, you can see that the PI/PIF rates were pretty high throughout the entire disc.
Performance Revisited:
While Samsung's new "Super-WriteMaster" drive had a few rough spots, it performed fairly well throughout most of our tests. The SH-S203B flew through our DVD writing tests, turning in some very good times with DVD±R, DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the drive either. The SH-S203B was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R discs at 16x and other types of recordable media at an impressive 12x.
When it came to reading CD's, the SH-S203B gave us some mixed results. While the drive read pressed media at speeds near 48x, its CD-R and CD-RW read speeds were limited to only 40x. The SH-S203B also took a little longer than some of the other drives when writing CD's. Nevertheless, its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the Samsung SH-S203B gets a solid 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.
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.
Samsung SH-S203B 20x DVD±RW/RAM |
|
Features: Installation: Performance: |
9 9 8 |
Overall: | 9 |
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