detail information

Positive:

• Supports CD-R/RW writing at 48x/32x
• Supports DVD±R writing at 18x
• Supports DVD-RAM at 12x
• Supports DVD+RW/DVD-RW writing at 8x/6x
• Supports Mt. Rainer
• Overall ok writing quality
• Supports Bitsetting for DVD+R/+RW/+R DL (BookType to DVD-ROM)
• 'Two sheep" writer
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Can rip copy protected Audio-CDs
• Reads CD-ROM at 48x
• Reads DVD-ROM/DVD-Video SL at 16
• 'Two sheep" writer  
• Can overburn CD-Rs around 99 min
• Can read 99 min CD-Rs
• Good Software package
• Can do disc quality scanning
• Lead free product  

Negative:

• Reads CD-R/CD-RW/CD-DA only at 40x
• Reads DVD±R/RW/±R DL only at 12x/8x/8x
• Can not overburn DVD±R media
• Quality improvements of DVD-R and DVD±R DL media
• Green LED for both reading and writing

Conclusion:

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points: The Samsung SH-S182D was the second 18x DVD writer that appeared after Plextor's PX-760.

The total 18x DVD writing times are very good and the quality ok on this Samsung SH-S182D.

The CD-R write quality is excellent with the Samsung SH-S182D, with most tested CD-R media returning impressive results. Write performance was also impressive with many burns well under 3 minutes.

The Mt. Rainer support is something that we can not find in every drive, so this feature gives the Samsung SH-S182D some extra points from us.

Bitsetting support on DVD+R/+RW/+R DL is also a welcome inclusion and ensures good compatibility with set top DVD players.

The supplied software package was also good, and should provide the beginner and the more advanced user with all the necessary tools to write DVD and CD recordable media.

As a last point we would like to mention that this DVD burner is a 'lead-free" product, which meet the recycling standards that came into effect on the 1^st of January 2006.

The main negative points: There are few negative points about this drive, we would like to mention that other drives offer faster read speeds on CD-R/RW/DA and on DVD±R/RW/±R DL media.

Further, it was a little disappointing not to find some media that could be burned at higher than its rated speed.

Quality improvements on DVD-R and DVD±R DL media would be welcome.

We would also like to see a dual coloured LED, with one colour used for read and a different colour used for writing, instead of the present single coloured green LED.

To sum it all up, this is what we would say: 'The Samsung SH-S182D is an inexpensive and overall an OK drive with really nice features".

By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we found the drive offered at 33.99 $, and at getprice the drive is listed at 32.80 €. (August 2006).

You may comment on this review below or in this forum thread.

Thanks to: