What's in the box?:
- ASUS SBC-04D1S-U USB 2.0 Blu-ray Combo Drive
- Quick Installation Guide
- Software CD
- Vertical Drive Stand
- USB Y Cable
Physical Features:
The drive ASUS sent us for this review was manufactured in May of 2009 and had firmware WR22. At the time of this review, this is the only firmware available for the SBC-04D1S-U.
The ASUS SBC-04D1S-U is one of the smallest Blu-ray combo drives on the market today. Measuring 157 x 142 x 21 mm, it's not much larger than a couple of jewel cases stacked on top of one another. The drive is also constructed of a lightweight, black plastic. The glossy finish looks nice, but it scratches easily and finger prints and smudges have a tendency to stand out.
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Along with a small "ASUS" logo, the top of the SBC-04D1S-U has a large "X" shaped design which lights up a bright blue when the drive is powered on. The brightness of this light can be adjusted or turned off altogether using the included BluTuner utility. On the bottom of the drive you can see four small rubber feet as well as a rubber rectangle. The rectangle covers the open space where the stand attaches to the drive.
The LED and eject button are located along the front of the SBC-04D1S-U. This LED lights up green when both reading and writing.
Along the rear, you can see the SBC-04D1S-U's USB 2.0 interface. This connector not only transfers data but provides power for the drive. To ensure that the SBC-04D1S-U gets the power it needs, ASUS includes a special USB cable that plugs into two ports on your computer.
Technical Specs:
Most of the specs below have been taken from ASUS's website and the manual that came with the drive.
| ASUS SBC-04D1S-U USB 2.0 Blu-ray Combo Drive | |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 8x (CAV) 4x (P-CAV) 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x, 4x (Z-CLV) 3.3x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 8x (CAV) 4x (P-CAV) 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x, 4x (Z-CLV) 2x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 4x (Z-CLV) 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 4x (Z-CLV) 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 5x (P-CAV) 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| CD Write Speeds | 24x, 16x (Z-CLV) 10x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 16x (Z-CLV) 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| BD Read Speeds | 4.8x Max (BD-ROM) 4.8x Max (BD-R) 4.8x Max (BD-R DL) 4.8x Max (BD-RE) |
| DVD Read Speeds | 8x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 8x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 8x Max (DVD±R) 8x Max (DVD±RW) 6x Max (DVD±R DL) 5x Max (DVD-RAM) 4x Max (DVD-Video) |
| CD Read Speed | 24x Max |
| DAE Speed | 20x Max |
| Buffer Size | 4MB |
| Access Times |
240 ms (BD) 200 ms (DVD) 200 ms (CD) |
| BD Formats | BD-ROM BD-R/RE BD-R/RE DL |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD-RAM |
| CD Formats | CD-DA Photo CD Video CD CD-Extra CD-Text CD-R CD-RW |
| CD Recording Modes | Track At Once Session At Once Disc At Once Packet Writing |
| DVD+R Recording Modes | Sequential Recording Multi-Session Recording |
| DVD+RW Recording Modes | Random Recording |
| DVD+R DL Recording Modes | Sequential Recording Multi-Session Recording |
| DVD-R Recording Modes | Disc At Once Incremental Recording Multi-Border Recording |
| DVD-RW Recording Modes | Disc At Once Restricted Overwrite Incremental Recording Multi-Border Recording |
| DVD-R DL Recording Modes | Disc At Once Incremental Recording Multi-Border Recording |
By looking at the picture below, you can see that ASUS's new DVD writer is identified as an "ASUS SBC-04D1S-U."
Nero also shows that the SBC-04D1S-U has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x and a 4096KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by ASUS's FlextraLink technology. According to Nero, the SBC-04D1S-U can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 95:10 with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the SBC-04D1S-U 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 Erik Deppe's Opti Drive Control. Among other things, this program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. Opti Drive Control had no problems detecting the SBC-04D1S-U's reading and writing speeds, supported disc types and 4MB buffer.
Opti Drive Control also shows that the SBC-04D1S-U is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's 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 Opti Drive Control gives us a quick glance at the SBC-04D1S-U'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 that while ASUS's new drive can read and write to most DVD formats and read back BD-R, BD-RE and BD-ROM discs.
The SBC-04D1S-U doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, the drive automatically sets the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM". This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.
