Test machine

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUSTeK P5K (Intel P35 chipset)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
• RAM: 4 GB OCZ Platinum dual channel kit DDR2 800
• GFX: BFG nVidia 8800GTS (640 Megabytes GDDR3)
• Sound: Onboard Realtek ALC882 HD audio controller
• Hard disk: 2X 500GB Seagate Barracuda (SATA 2)

Firmware update:

We found a later firmware (SB01) on the Samsung website and proceeded to update the drives firmware. The update completed successfully without any issues.

Reviewers note

Because of the late arrival of firmware SB01, the reading tests and some of the writing tests were conducted using firmware SB00.

System setup:

The Samsung SH-S203B was connected to a SATA channel on the motherboards ICH9 SATA controller. As we can see from the above screenshot, Nero InfoTool reports the Samsung SH-S203B as a UDMA5 compatible device.

And another screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Samsung SH-S203B supports DVD-RAM read/write and Mount Rainier. The drive came shipped with firmware version SB00.

Installed software:

• Nero Burning ROM 7
• Nero CD/DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• Slysoft CloneCD
• Exact Audio Copy
• KProbe

Our review PC has Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit installed.

Features and techniques

Software Bundle:

Now let’s take a look at the supplied software bundle. Please note, we may not use any of this software in this review.

The supplied software CD-ROM

In the above screenshot we see the available install options

• Nero 7 Essentials
• Firmware Live Update
• User Guide

The Nero 7 Essentials install screen

Live Firmware Update Utility

User Guide area selection screen

The software bundle is good, up to date and should provide a good starting point for any new user as well as the more advanced user.

Drive internals:

In the above screenshot we can see the internal PCB of the Samsung SH-S203B.

Disc Quality Scanning:

The Samsung SH-S203B can be used along with KProbe or Nero CD-Speed for “Disc Quality Scanning”.

Disc Quality Scan at 8x scanning speed using CD-Speed.

Disc Quality Scan at 8x scanning speed using KProbe.

The Samsung SH-S203B could be considered a useful drive for Disc Quality Scanning. The results seem fairly consistent with those of a Lite-On drive scanning at 8x

BookType (Bitsetting):

The Samsung SH-S203B supports bit-setting via burning applications such as Nero Burning Rom and supports Bit-Setting on DVD+R/RW/+R DL media types.

Here is how you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Nero CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

DVD+R DL with book type DVD-ROM

Another quick test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

Writing technique

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the Samsung SH-S203B:

For these tests we used CD-Speed and wrote a full disc at the drives maximum speed.

CD Recordable:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 48x.

The Samsung SH-S203B uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 36.86x and a total writing time of 2 minutes and 54 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Samsung SH-S203B was one of the fastest drives when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of 32x.

The Samsung SH-S203B uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 28.09x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Samsung SH-S203B was one of the fastest drives when writing CD-RW media.

20x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 20x.

DVD+R

The Samsung SH-S203B uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.95x and a total writing time of 4 minutes and 36 seconds.

DVD-R

The Samsung SH-S203B uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.96x and a total writing time of 4 minutes and 38 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our table, the Samsung SH-S203B was the fastest drive when writing DVD±R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Samsung SH-S203B uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.71x and a total writing time of 7 minutes and 31 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Samsung SH-S203B was about average at writing our test DVD+RW media.

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6x.

The Samsung SH-S203B uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 6X. This gives an average speed of 6.02x and a total writing time of 9 minutes and 50 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Samsung SH-S203B was about average when writing DVD-RW media.

16x DVD+R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of 16x.

The Samsung SH-S203B uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 16X. This gives an average speed of 11.76x and a total writing time of 10 minutes and 33 seconds.

12x DVD-R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of 12x. Unfortunately we did not have any DVD-R DL media that could be written at this speed, the fastest being 10x.

The Samsung SH-S203B uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 10X. This gives an average speed of 9.03x and a total writing time of 13 minutes and 22 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Samsung SH-S203B was by far the fastest drive when writing DVD+R DL and the fastest drive when writing DVD-R DL media.

12x DVD-RAM writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SH-S203B, it should be able to write DVD-RAM at a maximum speed of 12x.

The Samsung SH-S203B uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 12X. This gives an average speed of 10.09x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 44 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Samsung SH-S203B was among the fastest drives when writing DVD-RAM media.

Summary:

There is no doubt that the Samsung SH-S203B has excellent writing performance. CD-R writing speed is excellent and DVD writing speeds broke all records here in the CD Freaks review labs. DVD+R DL writing performance, thanks to the SH-S203B 16x writing speed, also breaks all writing speed records here in the CD Freaks review labs.

Let’s head on to the next page where we will check reading performance…

Introduction

Reading performance