Today for review I’ve got another Samsung product, it’s another optical drive, but it’s one that goes in your computer. Specifically it’s the SH-B123L 12X BD-Rom/DVD Writer, or it’s a Blu-Ray drive with DVD writer functionality as well. This drive at 12X is supposedly one of the fastest in production right now, making it rather special. the drive itself has a unique look to it that I like, it’s not cluttered with logos and badges like other drives, and the drive tray front is actually mirrored with the Blu-Ray logo on it. The drive is physically small in size making it perfect for compact cases like an HTPC would have, it’s quiet and it’s a decent product…

The box of course has the specs and features listed on it as you might expect.

Inside you’ll find the drive well packaged and protected.

Included with the drive is an SATA cable, screws, user manual and a software disc with a whole bunch of Cyberlink software on it.

The drive is small in length, which is great for fitting into smaller cases like those of an HTPC. I like smaller sized drives as you never have a problem fitting them in a PC case.

The front of the drive surprised me actually, most drives have all kinds of logos on them, but this one just has Samsung in the bottom left corner and the Blu-Ray logo in the center of the tray. On the bottom right corner is the eject button that lights up blue. There’s also a small hole to manually eject the discs right near the eject button. I like the look of the mirror on the tray as well, it’s different and just adds something to it.

The back is plain, just the data and power connections are there.

Specifications:

Samsung 12X BD-Rom/DVD Writer
Model: SH-B123L

The new BD combo guarantees high reliability in BD play performance by utilizing two lenses and a two laser diode structure, which provide stable BD read, and DVD and CD read/ write performance. SACT (Spherical Aberration Compensation Technology) improves the quality of the read function on BD drives if the protective layer does not have a uniform thickness. In addition, PSCT (Precision Step Control Technology) optimizes position control for the optical pick-up feature that requires small track pitch of BD drives. Samsung’s Firmware Live Update ensures users that they always have the latest BD drive firmware version.

Samsung’s BD drive, designed with an edgier look that sets it apart from conventional ODDs, features a chic mirror front door, blue LED and high-tech front bezel of the internal BD. The light and tiny casing not only reduces internal heat, but also contributes to low CO2 emissions by improving loading efficiency.

The BD Combo provides a variety of speeds across different data media types including: 12X BD-ROM read, 8x BD R/RE/DL read, 48X CD-ROM, 40X CD-RW, 16X DVD±R recording, 12X DVD-RAM recording, 8X DVD±R Dual Layer recording, 8X DVD+RW recording and 6X DVD-RW recording.

Access Time: CD 150ms (Random), DVD 150ms (Random), BD-ROM 210ms(Random)
Data transfer mode: SATA 1.5Gbps
Interface: Serial-ATA
Buffer Memory: 2M
Size (W * H * L): 148.2(W) x 170(D) x 42(H) With out BEZEL
Buffer underrun Protection: Yes
Light Scribe: Yes

There’s nothing to installation,  just install like you would any other optical drive. The drive is small which I like, it will be able to easily fit in smaller case like an HTPC case, which this drive would be perfect for really.

The first thing I did after installation was to check for firmware updates, and yes there was one, so I went and updated it.

Then I installed the Cyberlink suite of software that was on the included disc.

Once installation completes you’ll need to restart the computer, then you can see what was installed and you’ll see quite a few things we installed!

Out of all of that the only thing I find useful is PowerDVD, I use it for watching Blu-Rays, but it’s also great for capturing frames of videos as well for reviews! Of course that’s not the say the other programs aren’t useful, they are really, but I’m set in my ways and I use what I know and like.

For comparison I’ve got two other BD-Rom/DVD Writers, one from LG (CH08LS10) and one from LiteOn (iHES206). I should note the LiteOn is a 6X drive and the LG is rated for 8X speeds with Blu-Rays.

For testing I used both SiSoft Sandra Optical Disc benchmark and Nero DiscSpeed. I tested the read speeds of Blu-rays and regular DVDs, and writing DVDs.

There’s only one SiSoft Sandra test so let’s get that out of the way, this is just a DVD read test.

Drive Index: is a composite figure representing an overall performance rating based on the highest read or write speed across the whole disk. Thus the higher the better.

Access Time: is the average time to read a random sector on the disk, analogous to latency response time. Thus the lower the better.

Benchmark Results
Drive Index : Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.
Access Time : Results Interpretation : Lower index values are better.

Well according to this test, the Samsung is rather slow, but it has decent access time.

Let’s move on to the Nero DiscSpeed test:

We’ll start with the Blu-Ray read test:

The average speeds for all of them are rather low really. If you remember what I mentioned earlier though, the LG is an 8X drive while the LiteOn is a 6x drive, neither of those hit their rated speeds either.

For that test you should use a dual layer Blu-ray but I just found out I don’t have any, so the ones I have are single layer or about 25gigs. I honestly don’t own many Blu-Ray discs, I use Netflix to rent them if I want to watch. I did try more than one Blu-Ray, and the results were very similar for all of the drives.

Here’s the screen shots from the tests:

Not sure if it would have mattered or not had I used a dual layer Blu-Ray disc as from what I understand it actually slows down when it hits the second layer. Still though, the Samsung is the fastest of those I have on hand.

Next up is the DVD read test:

As far as speed goes, the Samsung comes in a very close second to the LG drive.

Here’s those screen shots as well:

The LiteOn drive just drops at the end, not sure why..

The final test is the DVD Creation:

I used 16X DVD+R discs for the tests. The speeds were all similar but the actual time it took was different with the Samsung coming in the fastest by about 5 seconds.

I had no problems playing Blu-rays with the PowerDVD software, and I like it as it’s fairly easy to use and it works fine.

Something I never noticed before with my other BD drives is upscaling of regular DVDs, I assume they all do don’t they? At least the newer ones, the LG and LiteOn drives are hooked up to 1080P capable display, one is a monitor and the other is my 47” HDTV so I know they upscale. On the box for this Samsung drive though, it does mention specifically that it upscales to 1080P.

The drive though is quiet, and in fact this will replace the LiteOn that is in my HTPC right now. I like the looks of it, the mirrored tray is nice looking really.

Conclusion:

The new Samsung 12x BD-Rom/DVD Writer is nice looking and quiet, and when you combine that with it’s small size, it’s perfect for HTPC use.

The drive is fast at reading Blu-Rays, at least faster than those I have on hand right now. Yes it didn’t hit the rated 12X speed, but that speed is when using a perfect pressed disc, so there’s a few reasons it may not have hit the rated speed. I don’t fault it too much for not hitting the 12X speed, the other drives in the tests didn’t hit their rated speeds either.

The included CyberLink software is a nice bundle really, it includes pretty much everything you’ll ever need really for burning, creating and watching movies.

Pros:
+Small size
+Looks great
+Includes lots of software
+Quiet

Cons:
-Didn’t hit the rated speeds

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of Samsung SH-B123L 12X BD-Rom/DVD Writer is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Netbooks are wonderful things truly, they’ve changed the shape of how we think of portable computers but with that portability comes sacrifice. The majority of netbooks out there don’t come with an optical drive, and there are times you need to have one. Sure you could put everything on a USB drive but with movies that would require a lot of work really to rip them etc, so the other option to to get yourself a nice external DVD drive. Today for review I have the newest Samsung external drive called the SE-S084D Super WriteMaster Slim External DVD Writer. It’s very small making it very portable, which is what you want right?! It’s quiet and it’s fairly fast, and it only requires one USB cable to operate. So read on to learn more…

The drive comes in a nice looking box with lots of information on it.

Inside you’ll find the drive itself, Y-style USB cable, basic documentation and a CD with manual and software on it.

The drive they sent me for review is silver in color, but you can get it in assorted other colors like red, blue, yellow and purple. There is a label on the bottom along with four rubber feet.

On the back you’ll find a single mini-USB connection:

Almost the entire front is the drive tray, all of the black is with just a little sliver border of the housing around it. There’s an LED indicator on the tray and an indentation where you push to eject the disc.

Specifications:

Samsung SE-S084D Super WriteMaster Slim External DVD Writer

SE-S084D

Featuring a sleek design with a stylish metallic centerline, the SE-S084D won an iF Product Award Design, which is one of the world’s top three leading design awards, sponsored out of Hannover, Germany. The SE-S084D features a rounded shape and is available in seven colors. Its compact size is 20 percent smaller and 25 percent lighter than conventional DVD writers to accommodate today’s active mobile lifestyle.

The SE-S084D DVD writer is engineered to be compatible with all major operating systems, including Win7 and Mac OS. The new DVD writer features Buffer Under Run technology to prevent errors that result from writing speeds that exceed data transfer speeds, while also enabling PC multi-tasking.

The external drive provides a variety of speeds across different data media types including: 24X CD-ROM, 24X CD-RW, 8X DVD±R recording, 5X DVD-RAM recording, 6X DVD+R Dual Layer recording, 6X DVD-R Dual Layer recording, 8X DVD+RW recording and 6X DVD-RW recording.

Access Time: CD 190ms (Random), DVD 190ms (Random)
Data transfer mode: SATA 1.5Gbps
Interface: USB 2.0
Buffer Memory: 1.5M
Drive Install Form: Horizontal
Size (W * H * L): 146mm * 17mm * 137.2mm

MSRP $69.99

For testing it put this Samsung DVD drive up against the LG GSA-E50L Slim External drive and my SATA Internal LG CH080lS10 Super Multi-Blue DVD Writer.  I know the internal drive will be faster, but it’s more to give an idea of the speed differences between internal and external drives.

The Samsung is much smaller than the LG Slim External Drive…

Included with the Samsung drive is a disc with Nero 9 Essentials and user manual on it. To give you an idea of the size of the drive here’s that disc on top of the drive and you can see the drive is just barely larger than the disc. I did not install the Nero 9 Essentials as I already have the full version of Nero 9 on my system.

I used it with both my main desktop computer and my netbook. The desktop powers it just fine but with something like a netbook you’ll most likely need to use both USB connection one for data and one for extra power, especially when burning. The design of the cable is not the greatest, the Y style is nice if you have two ports next to each other, but if you don’t you’ll need a USB extension and there’s no one included.

For testing I use Nero DiscSpeed, it’s actually a decent program to benchmark optical drives and to test how long it takes to create or burn a full DVD.

The test to run is the DVD Creation test, you create the disc first then use that same disc in the benchmark test so they’re all even. Lower time is better and higher speed is better of course. 16X DVD+R Discs were used.

The Samsung drive does a little better than the LG Slim, but not much really just a few seconds quicker.

Here’s the actual screen shots from the Creation test:

Then next is the Benchmark test where learn speeds, burst rates, access times and CPU usage.

The Samsung drive seems to do a bit better there as well, not too much different though

Again here’s the screen shots of the test:

The drive itself is very lightweight, and it seems well made overall.

It is quiet in operation, at least quieter than the LG is. It will be fine for watching movies on a netbook, and to take with you when you need an optical drive. The sound level is low enough that you won’t notice it spinning if you‘re watching a movie, burning though is a bit louder but that’s to be expected.

My HDTV does not have USB ports on it but my media streaming box does and it recognized the Samsung DVD player and I was able to control the players functions like play/pause, eject and everything else. I tried three different DVDs and none would work saying it couldn’t read the encryption. I’m guessing it’s a DRM issue there.. so I’m not sure how that part works.

Conclusion:

The new Samsung Super WriteMaster External DVD Writer is certainly one that I would want to take with me, it’s lightweight and it’s quiet. This drive offers decent speeds and it’s stylish as well with several colors choose from so you could even find one to match your netbook.

I like it, it works, and it works well truly.

Pros:
+Quiet
+Relatively fast
+Inexpensive
+Can work as USB DVD player with products that support it

Cons:
-Doesn’t seem to play all DVDs
-USB cord for power should be long or include extension

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of Samsung SE-S084D Super WriteMaster Slim External DVD Writer is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

When it comes to burning DVDs and CDs we’ve got many choices, the  first thing that comes to mind is the internal writers, but there are also many external versions available as well. Most people wouldn’t think of an external drive, but they have their place, they’re portable so you can take them with you, they’re also a great addition to a laptop, and they’re also useful if you run out of available bays on your computer. As with any product though not all are created equal and some have features other do not.

Today I’ve got the Pioneer DVR-X162Q Qflix Enabled External DVD/CD Writer for review and from my time with it, and comparing it to two other external drives, I’ve found it’s a very fast drive. As for the Qfilx part of it, Qflix is something that only a few drives have on them, it’s special feature that works in conjunction with CinemaNow and Roxio Venue to allow you to purchase, download and burn movies to DVD, something I think is a very nice feature, especially if you watch a lot of movies as I do.

As usual I’ve got an unboxing video for you, not sure why I did an unboxing for this, but what the heck right?

The box features pictures along with specs and features all over it, very nicely done and informative.

Inside we find the drive itself, along with documentation, blank Qflix media, software/drive disc, power supply, and USB cable.

The drive itself is a very glossy black, this tends to pick up fingerprints and attract dust easily, while it looks nice, I’ve much rather have a none glossy surface, or I’ll be cleaning it all of the time to keep it looking nice.

On the back we find USB port, power switch and power connection, while on the bottom we see an identification label.

There are sort of ‘V’ shaped indentations on the sides of the drive, these are for the optional stand, so you can mount the drive vertically to save space.

The stand is a stand, nothing special, but it doesn’t really attach to the drive, so if you pick up the drive the stand stays where it was, kind of annoying actually, would be nice if it attached to the drive in some way.

Specifications:

Pioneer DVR-X162Q Qflix External DVD/CD Writer

DVR-X162Q

Qflix External DVD/CD Writer

    * 20x DVD-R/+R Writing Speed
    * 12x DVD-R/+R Dual/Double Layer Writing Speed
    * Qflix™ DVD Download & Burn
    * USB 2.0 Interface

The DVR-X162Q External DVD/CD Writer from Pioneer, and included software from Roxio®, enables computer users to Download & Burn Hollywood movies from online content providers and create their own DVDs. The included software will also allow users to create personal videos, make digital photo slideshows, burn music CDs, and back up data files onto DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW discs with ease. The Pioneer DVR-X162Q has a writing speed of 20x for DVD-R/+R and 12x for DVD-R/+R (DL).

* Features Qflix™ – Download & Burn technology that allows users to purchase Hollywood movies from the Internet and burn them to DVD
* Dual/Double Layer recording provides nearly twice the capacity of a single layer recordable DVD-R (8.5 Gbytes vs. 4.7 Gbytes)
* Easily connects to PC through USB 2.0 Interface

Qflix™
Qflix is the new technology that allows consumers to download and burn licensed movies to DVD.  With the Pioneer DVR-X162Q, Roxio Venue™ software, and Qflix enabled DVD media, consumers can purchase and download Hollywood movies from CinemaNow.  The result is a DVD that can be played in a set-top DVD player, in the car, or virtually any other DVD player.

Software bundle includes:
* Roxio Venue™ – manage and burn downloaded DVD content
* CinePlayer® – play DVDs on your PC
* Roxio Easy CD & DVD Burning – create back-up DVDs and CDs

Pioneer DVR-X162Q also includes two (2) pieces of Verbatim® Qflix enabled blank DVD media

Price: $100.00 (*Approx)

There is a green LED in the drive to indicate activity so you know when it’s working, right next to a silver button that kinda seems out of place…

The Pioneer DVR-X162Q Drive is meant to be used in conjunction with the Roxio Venue Software and Qflix, which if you don’t know allows you to buy movies, download them and burn them to disc, but you need a Qflix enabled drive and Qflix blank media to do this.

I actually reviewed the Qflix service a little bit ago, so I’m not going to go into all of that again her , you can read the entire review HERE if you wish, but here’s a couple screenshots of the interface:

Included with the DVR-X162Q is Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burning Suite, it’s actually not a stripped down version as you might sometimes find bundled with products, this one seems to have all of the features intact which is a very nice thing.

I’ve got two other external DVD drives on hand, one of them is a Qflix drive as well, so I’ve got them up for comparison. I’ve review both here before, one is the Liteon EZ-DUB External DVD RW Drive DX-20A4PU, and the other is a Dell branded Qflix drive with a LiteOn drive inside of the enclosure.

Not sure if you can tell from the above picture, but the Pioneer drive is larger than the other two, at least in length, it’s longer, and a bit higher as well when standing vertically.

For testing I used Nero9 DiscSpeed, I ran the Creation Test and the Benchmark as well to see how these drive compared to one another. I used 16X DVD+R for the tests.

As you can see at creation the Pioneer has the best time and the fastest average speed, which is something that everyone can appreciate.

Here’s the Benchmark:

Here we see a different story though, it appears the other drives do better than the Pioneer in this test overall.

Personally if I’m looking to buy a DVD burner then I want the one that is the fastest, coming in at over 20 seconds faster to burn a complete DVD, the Pioneer DVR-X162Q is the one I would choose.

Here’s the screenshots from the test, the left side are all the Creation Test, while the right side is the Disc Benchmark Test. With these screenshots comes a quick lesson in how discs are burned, or really what methods are used.

If you look closely and compare the graphs for the Creation test, you’ll notice the Dell Qflix and the LiteOn drives have a nice smooth curve to them while the Pioneer is just everywhere, while you might think that is a bad thing, it’s not. If you notice in the box labeled ‘Type’ the Pioneer has listed ‘P-CAV’, while the other two show ‘CAV’, CAV means Constant Angular Velocity, and P-CAV means Partial Constant Angular Velocity, most newer drives feature P-CAV. With CAV the disc rotates at the same speed no matter what area of the disc is being accessed, with P-CAV the disc rotates at constant speed on the inner part of the disc while the data that is delivered varies in speeds, and when the drive is accessing the outer part the disc the data being delivered is at a constant speed while the disc speed varies. Get it?

In the graphs the green line is the burning speed, while the yellow line is the speed of the disc or RPMs, and you’ll see the dips and peaks match accordingly. You might think seeing all of those dips and peaks is not good, well theoretically it is good, this is the Active OPC kicking in, or Optimized Power Control, or Optimum Power Calibration. What OPC does is check the proper writing power and the reflection of the media then it calculates the optimum laser power and adjusts it in real time, theoretically this should result in a better burn. Essentially you’re seeing the Pioneer drive doing more real time adjustments, than the other drives are doing which is supposed to be a good thing really.

Pioneer:

LiteOn:

Dell Qflix:
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As for sound, for the most part the Pioneer is quiet, but at times it can get noisy, making almost a buzzing sound really, not too loud though, and it’s only for a very brief time it does this.

Conclusion:

As you can see from my comparing the Pioneer DVR-X162Q to a couple other drives, it’s certainly one of the fastest out there today. Not only is it fast, but with Qflix, it allows you to purchase movies online, and then download and burn them to have a physical copy that you can keep forever.

One of the drawbacks of Qflix though is the media, it does cost more than standard blank DVDs though, but in the end I think the convenience of doing it from home is worth the extra cost.

Pros:
Fast burn time
Easy to use
Qflix enabled to download and burn movies
Includes good software

Cons:
Larger than others
Glossy surface picks up dust and fingerprints easily
Can be loud at times

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

Pioneer DVR-X162Q Qflix External DVD/CD Writer is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

So the war is over, Blu-ray has won, even though it really wasn’t much of a war, more of an argument than anything. So now all of our hi-def videos will be on the Blu-ray format, and if we wish to watch it on our PCs we’ll need to buy some hardware. Prices have been falling quite a bit on Blu-ray drives, below $100 which is nice, but I highly doubt that they’ll ever fall to the prices we see today for DVD drives due to Blu-ray licensing fees. Sure eventually they’ll fall in price but not until a new format is released most likely, the greed of the Blu-ray consortium companies will keep the prices high and force us to pay up for the privilege of watching Br movies on our computers. That’s capitalism, and it makes the world go round, so we’ve just got to deal with it I guess…

Today for review I’ve got a product from our friends at Liteon, it’s their Blu-ray internal reader optical drive, it’s actually a combo drive which makes it a bit more valuable since it can also burn DVDs and CDs with no need for a separate drive for those tasks. The Liteon iHES206 Internal 6x Blu-Ray drive is fast and quiet, two things that are very positive aspects for an optical drive, at least the two most important things to me. It’s also capable of burning with Lightscribe as well so you can label your discs. I’ve put it up against one of the fastest drives out there today, the Samsung Super Writemaster, continue on to see how it matches up…

Here’s a brief video unboxing of the Liteo Blu-ray drive, not sure why I did an unboxing of it, but hey why not… check out the video and the still pictures and continue on:

Specifications:

Liteon iHES206 Internal 6x Blu-ray Disc Reader and DVD/CD Writer

Features:
*SATA interface, Half-Height internal DVD+R / DVD+R9 / DVD-R9 / DVD+RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD-RAM /CD-R/ CD-RW / CD-ROM / BD-ROM / BD-R / BD-RE combination drive

*SMART-X(*) function adjusts CD-DA / VCD / DVD data extraction to a fastest allowable speed according to both data request rate from host and disk quality

*Seamless Link  function can avoid buffer under run as well as get the best writing quality by smartly adjusting writing strategy

*ABS system reduce vibration and noise during recording and reading
*Support Over-Burn and Raw mode copy
*BD read compliant: BD data, BD video of 12 cm diameter
*AACS compliant (incl. Rom mark)
*Conform to Orange Book: Part 2 CD-R Volume 1, Part 2 CD-R Volume 2 Multi Speed,Part 3 CD-RW Volume 1 (1x, 2x, and 4x), Part 3 CD-RW Volume2: High Speed, Part 3 CD-RW Volume 3: Ultra Speed. Support Fixed packet, Variable packet, Disc-at-once, Session-at-once and Track-at-once

*CD read compliant: CD-DA,CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA , Photo-CD, Multi-session, Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD Plus, CD-R , and CD-RW

>*Support both 8cm and 12cm disc of CD and DVD family
*Support LightScribe direct disk labeling to LightScribe media

The Liteon 6x Blu-ray is an SATA drive as you may have noticed, I think most newer drives these days are, installation was easy, just like any other drive really.

It comes with Cyberlink PowerDVD BD Edition that needed updated as soon as it was installed, no surprise there. PowerDVD BD Edition works fine, I had no problems with it at all, I grabbed Doomsday Unrated Edition on Blu-Ray to watch and it worked perfectly fine. It also comes bundled with some other extraneous stuff like the Blu-ray Disc Suite which I found rather pointless.

The drive is also nice and quiet reading all discs and even writing DVDs, something that I very much like about this drive, there’s nothing more annoying than having a loud optical drive especially when using it to watch a movie.

For testing, since I don’t have another Blu-ray drive for comparison I figured just test it out to check the claims made. I ram Nero DiscSpeed 5benchmark Test and the max speed came out a little over the claimed 6x speed at 6.09x.

Random Access Time for Blu-ray is claimed at 350ms by Liteon, Nero measured it at 248ms which isn’t too bad.

Here’s a screenshot of the test:

Next up I figured I would compare DVD speeds in writing and reading to my Samsung Super Writemaster that I reviewed HERE a while back.

As you can see the creation time was actually quicker on the Liteon drive than on the Samsung, and the Average read speed was as well.

Here’s the results for the Liteon testing:

and here’s for the Samsung drive:

Overall the Liteon drive is very fast and it works very well.

Coming in at around $120 or less, depending where you look, it’s a good value for the money really.

Conclusion:
The Liteon iHES206 is a very capable drive, it’s fast and quiet and competitively priced.

The included software works well and the addition of the extra faceplate will make sure it matches any case style.

I ran into no problems at all with this drive, it has become my main drive now, pushing the Samsung to the number two spot or bay in my case.

Pros:
Fast
Quiet
Includes PowerDVD BD Edition
Includes extra faceplate

Cons:
None really

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

Liteon iHES206 Internal 6x Blu-ray Disc Reader and DVD/CD Writer is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Everyone has optical drives and as time has passed they’ve gotten faster and faster, one problem I’ve encountered though is that for newer drives there is no media for the latest speeds, something I’ve never been able to quite figure out. IDE is becoming obsolete, with SATA becoming the new standard, first it was hard drives now more and more companies are coming out with optical SATA drives as well. On a personal note I’ve moved now to all SATA connections, so no more IDE for me in my main system.

Today I’ve got a combination review and article for you, more of a roundup, or comparison piece really. Samsung sent me their new Super Write-Master 22X DVD burner for review, just the drive though, the OEM version basically, and I’ve been meaning to do a small article about optical drives, comparing their speeds, so I figured why not incorporate the new Samsung into the article.

The Super Write-Master features LightScribe, which I’m sure everyone knows about by now, but it’s main feature is of course the speed of the drive, writing DVDs at 22x, though there is no media capable of that yet that I know of. Another great feature of this drive is the SpeedPlus which is an optomised algorithm for writing at the fastest possible speeds, along with that the drive also features Speed Adjustment Technology, low noise and Buffer Under Run Technology. I’ve put the Samsung up against four other drives for comparison, and interestingly, during my testing I found the Super Write-Master will burn a 16x DVD at over 18X speeds, coming in at just a little over 5 minutes to burn a DVD, with the closest competitor coming in at almost 6 minutes.

The drive I received for review from Samsung was a bare OEM drive, so no unboxing today, and not a lot of pictures:
 

Specifications:

Samsung Super-WriteMaster 22x DVD Burner SH-S223Q

The SH-S223Q is a SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) drive with embedded LightScribe technology that lets users easily engrave labels, photos, and designs directly onto DVDs and CDs. LightScribe engraving produces a professional look without the cost and hassle of printing labels. The label-making software is pre-loaded on the drive and offers a variety of designs and label layouts.

SpeedPlus power speed technology for 22X writing
• Powerful over-speed support
• Low noise and vibration control system for high speed
• Optimised algorithm for fastest speed

S.A.T (Speed Adjustment Technology)
Diverse quality discs in the market. But just click to burn with no worries when you use SAMSUNG WriteMaster Smart enough to write in the most optimised speed for the disc automatically.

prevents Buffer Under Run error and enables high speed writing
• Buffer Under Run occurs in high speed writing, when speed is faster than data transfer speed.
• Buffer Under Run technology prevent the Buffer Under Run Error and it enables Multitasking on the PC.
• Supports high speed writing even in low performance PC.

The SH-S223 drives provide industry-leading recording speeds across a wide range of data media types including:
* 22X DVD±R recording
* 12X DVD-RAM recording
* 16X DVD+R Dual Layer recording
* 12X DVD-R Dual Layer recording
* 8X DVD+RW recording
* 6X DVD-RW recording

Samsung’s high-performance DVD writers are built on an aerodynamic frame design that reduces air-borne noise by preventing pressure concentration in any specific area of the drive. Their sound level ranges from 28 decibels (idle, at 3,400 rpm) to 53 decibels (22X, at 12,700 rpm), which is well within the general sound levels in the average home or office of 40 decibels to 65 decibels.

Price: $20-$40 Depending where you look

I threw four other drives I’ve got on hand for comparison to the Samsung Super-WriteMaster, here’s the list with Brand, Model, and DVD Write Speeds of all of the drives including the Samsung, along with the detailed results from the tests, below that you’ll find the graphs with the basic information compared.

*As a note, and I don’t think it matters much, but the Samsung and the LiteOn DH-20A6S are both SATA optical drives, the others are IDE interfaces.

Sony DRU-830A 18x

Lite-On DH-20A4P 20x

Lite-On DH-20A6S/DX-20A6Q 20x

Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x

SAMSUNG SH-S223Q/BEBN 22X

I used Nero CD/DVD speed to test all of the drives creation time and benchmarks as well for both CDs and DVDs. I used 52x CD media and 16X DVDR+ media for testing.

First up is the CD comparison graph:

The LiteOn drives are a bit faster overall..

Here’s the DVD results:

as we can see the Samsung Super-WriteMaster is the fastest at creating DVDs, coming in at almost 30 seconds faster than the closest competitor.

I also noticed the Samsung tops out at a speed of 18.19X using the 16X media, so I’m guessing that’s the SpeedPlus kicking in there… I’m sure if I could fine media that burns at 22x it would be a bit quicker at DVD creation.

I also played with the LightScribe as well, which is rather cool, but it is time consuming, a good 20 minutes to create a label, and media costs a bit more than standard stuff.

Conclusion:
There’s no doubt the Samsung Super Write-Master is most likely the fastest drive out there today, it’s quiet and from my testing results you can see it burns media pretty fast. The drive is also fairly quiet, which is very nice as some drives are very loud, I also had no problems with any media compatibilities either, it played every disc I put in just fine.

The drive also features Lightscribe, which is nice, but more of a novelty item that anything,  the time to takes to create the label is a bit much for me. I bought a 10 pack of Lightscribe DVDs and I most likely won’t be buying more after they are gone, my Sharpie works just fine fro labeling and it’s much faster…

Pros:
Fairly quiet
Fast
SATA connection
Lightscribe

Cons:
None really

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

Samsung Super-WriteMaster 22x DVD Burner SH-S223Q Review and Comparison is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Digital content is becoming more and more popular because it’s convenient  and easily fairly easy to access online. You can go to sites and buy movies to watch them, but you’re restricted most times to just your computer and maybe another device and usually no real physical media in your hands. I’m old school, I like to have a physical product in my hands, not only to make me feel secure about my purchase but it just feels good to have something tangible to show for what you bought.

Today I’ve got sort of a combo review for you, it’s of the new Roxio Venue service and the specialized DVD burner that accompanies it. Roxio Venue is an online store where you can purchase movies, but what makes Venue different is that you not only have the digital version of the movie to watch but you can burn it to DVD to watch in a standard DVD player. In other words your digital media purchase is now a tangible thing that you can feel, touch and even take with you to share with friends or family. These are what is normally called Burn-to-DVD-Downloads. In order to do this though you’ve got to have a special Qflix enabled DVD burner and special Qflix blank DVDs as well as they’re essentially a form of DRM. Normally I’m against DRM, but this type works for me as it offers me something tangible that I can touch and actually see a physical manifestation of my purchase, unlike something that remains on my computer in digital form.

Roxio was kind enough to set me up with an account to give you a walk through of how it works and of course provided me with a Qflix enabled burner and discs to go with it.

First up we’ll take a look at the actual hardware involved, yes no unboxing video today, as we’re more focused on the actual service as opposed to the hardware. Roxio sent me a Dell branded Qflix enabled DVD/RW drive as Dell is one of the first companies that does sell them.  I believe the standard pack only comes with two pieces of media, they were kind enough to include a couple more for me for this review.

Of course I popped the external drive apart because I wanted to know what kind of drive it was and I found out it is actually an SATA DVD/RW drive, model DX-20A6Q from Philips & LiteOn Digital Solutions. I found it a bit interesting that they went from SATA to USB with the enclosure. The bundle retails for about $120 on the Dell website.

Specifications:

* Provides the ability to legally download and burn DVDs of movies and top TV hits for playback on standard and high-definition DVD players

* Supports standard DVD functions (16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW with double layer write capable)

* Includes Roxio Venue software to connect directly to select content providers for easy purchase and download, organization, and burning of movies to DVD

* Includes Qflix DVD media from Ritek

Overview

With a Qflix DVD drive, creating your own personal movie library is simple. From your desktop, use Roxio Venue™ — a rich, user-friendly application — to connect directly to CinemaNow for easy purchase and download, organization, and burning of your favorite hit movies and TV shows to DVD. Select your favorites and then simply insert Qflix DVD media into the Qflix drive, click to burn and create your own personal entertainment library. Now you have the freedom to watch your movie on your TV, in your home theater, in your car or on your laptop.

In addition, Qflix drives are multi-function (16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW with double layer write capable). We recommend Roxio Easy Media Creator to extend your Qflix drive to burn photos, audio and personal video. With a single Qflix drive, you have a complete entertainment PC.

This device can record on discs marked with the Qflix logo. Such recorded discs are intended for playback in DVD-Video play-only devices and may not play in other DVD devices including recorders and PC drives that are not marked with the Qflix logo.

First up you’ll need to install the Roxio Venue software and register, easy to do nothing to it, takes a couple minutes.

You’ll then have a Roxio Venue shortcut and a CinemaNow Manger shortcut on your desktop, but we’re more concerned with the Roxio Venue. Clicking it open up your browser of choice to the CinemaNow Qflix Download to DVD site where you’ll have to create an account to get started, once I did that an update to the Roxio Venue software was needed so I let that do it’s thing.

Once the update was installed I was ready to go and start using the service. The movies are categorized by Comedy, Action, Drama, Family and Thriller, which turn out to be very general categories and you’ll find many movies crossing the categories.

Of course each movie give you information about it like Synopsis, Director, Actors etc. You’ll also find the price as well listed, and from what I saw all of the movies were $9.99 each which isn’t bad for a new movie. You’ll also find several icon under the Buy Now section that let you know what you can do with the movie, for example below we see Iron Man can plays on up to three devices and be burned to DVD, and this is all included in the $9.99 cost, so I think that really makes the cost worthwhile right there.

So I’ve got children and they’ve become Speed racer fans, I reviewed the game not long ago here on TestFreaks so I figured I would grab the movie for them from Roxio Venue. After you click the Buy Now button you are in your cart where you can checkout or continue browsing. I checked out of course and you have a choice to pay with Credit Card, PayPal or a Gift Certificate, Roxio was kind enough to give me a $25 Gift Certificate to use with Venue so that’s the form of payment I used. You’ll also get a confirmation receipt in your email as well.

After you’ve paid you’ll move to the Confirmation and Download screen where you’ll see a button that says Start Download, under that is a check box to automatically begin burning to DVD.

After that you’ll be greeted with the progress screen so you can watch the progress of your download. You also have the choice of watching the movie as it downloads, so you don’t have to download the entire movie to watch it, just a bit needs to get ‘buffered’ in your computer so you can start watching.

Earlier I mentioned the CinemaNow Manager, through it you can also monitor your movie and watch it while it downloads. Personally I liked using the Venue better as I ran into a bug, and well I just like the browser based version a bit more really.

The Entire process took about 3 hours or so on my DSL connection, and what’s nice is you can walk away and come back later and the DVD can be burned automatically for you so you don’t even have to be there while it works.

Overall I found the Roxio Venue/Qflix Download to DVD easy to use and navigate, but I found the selection a bit lacking. I also noticed that title disappear with no warning also, I was going to grab Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black to add to my collection but they were gone the next time I logged in to get them. I think maybe there should be a time limit or something listed like ‘this title will be available for X numbers of days’, unless I missed it somewhere I didn’t see anything like that.

As far as the DVD burner itself, it’s your basic burner with the Qflix technology added, it can still function as a normal burner as well. 

Though for Qflix movies you will need Qflix discs and only those will work, which will run you about $10 for 5 discs in jewel cases, or about $2 each. I’m sure as with anything the prices will come down eventually, so far I believe that only Ritek and Verbatim are making Qflix discs.

So a little bit ago I reviewed the LiteOn Ez-Dub External DVD drive and I figured it might be a good idea to compare them together to see how they perform with CDs and DVDs. I used Nero CD-DVD benchmark program, first I created the CD/DVD using the program then I ran the Benchmark part of it.

Average Speed is higher is better, while Random Access, Average Speed Creation and Time to Create are lower is better
First up we’ve got the DVD test, 16X DVDs were used for testing:

As you can see they are fairly comparable drives in terms of performance, the Random Access looks a bit skewed towards the LiteOn but you have to remember it’s measured in Milliseconds. We can see though the overall time to create a full 4.38GB DVD is 5:38 for the Qflix drive while the LiteOn has a time of 5:50, a good 12 seconds behind the Qflix drive.

Next we  have the CD Test, same scoring results as the DVD test, 52X CDs were used for the testing.

Here we see it takes about 6 seconds longer to create a CD with the Qflix burner, and everything else is a about the same.

Overall the drives are very comparable, in real life you wouldn’t notice much of a difference really unless you are in that much of a hurry where 12 seconds matters to you.

Conclusion:
Personally I like this system as opposed to others where the content is not tangible, the Qflix/Roxio Venue system works very well together to offer new movie downloads at low cost with the ability to burn them to DVD to play virtually anywhere.

Sure you’ve got to buy special discs, but consider it a convenience fee, it doesn’t bother me at all to have the ability to buy, download and own a movie to have in my hand.

Pros:
Watch while you’re downloading
Automatically burns for you
Easy to use
Can be left unattended
Inexpensive, $10 for a new movie isn’t too bad
Ability to share with other devices
Physical media in your hands

Cons:
Movies disappear with no warning
Small selection of movies now
Requires special hardware
Requires special discs

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

Roxio Venue Qflix Reviewed is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Every computer out there today has some sort of optical drive in it, they all pretty much have too to access media and install programs, the types and capabilities vary but they’re pretty much all the same.

Portable optical drives on the other hand can be different, they can be small, slim styled drives or full sized in a portable enclosure to hook up via your USB port. These are not really that much different than their internal cousins, but some companies add increased functionality to set their products apart from other on the market to add value and of course make them more attractive to the end consumer. One such company is Liteon, they’ve got a line of portable optical DVDRW drives called the EZ-DUB. These drives feature a standard sized, fully featured, optical drive inside of an external enclosure, but what makes these special is the addition of two touch sensitive buttons labeled ‘File and ‘Dub’ to make common functions easily accessible to the end user.  Is the EZ-DUB worth your money, are the extra features worth it?

First up of course check out the Unboxing movie, then continue on to the rest of the review:

Specifications:

Liteon EZ-DUB External DVD RW Drive DX-20A4PU

Lite-On introduces EZ-DUB, a patented new feature, making copying easier and more hassle-free for users than ever before.

The EZ-DUB function works with the addition of two buttons to the DVD writer : “DUB” and “FILE”, and the user-friendly EZ-DUB software developed by Lite-On.

EZ-DUB is as easy as 1-2-3. All you need to know is how to press a button !

EZ-DUB DX-20A4PU

Specs:

Write
DVD+R: 20X
DVD-R: 20X
DVD+R9: 8X
DVD-R9: 8X
DVD-RAM: 12X
CD-R: 48X

ReWrite
DVD+RW: 8X
DVD-RW: 6X
CD-RW: 24X

DVD Read: 16X
CD Read: 48X

DVD Access time: 3/1 Stroke:130ms, Full:200ms, Random Access:130ms
CD Access time: 3/1 Stroke:130ms, Full:200ms, Random Access:130ms

Ok, so I ran into problems with the installation, I had assumed that since it came with Nero that it would be compatible with Nero8 that I had installed, as it says on the Liteon site that you need at least Nero7.5 to use the software, well I was wrong. So I ended up having to uninstall my Nero8 and install the Nero7 Essentials that comes with the EZ-Dub, and of course I ran into a few more problems there as well. I only wanted to install the basics, I don’t like having a program take over my computer, as in reset all of my preferences to playing music,videos etc, and while Nero is a great product I don’t like some of the things like the Indexing Service and the Nero Search bar that integrates into the taskbar. So I tried to do a custom installation with just the basics, that didn’t work, then I tried to do another custom installation with everything but un-checking all of the preferences, that didn’t work either, so on the third try I just let everything install and let it essentially take over my computer.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing really, for the average user, or basic user this would be fine, use Nero for everything, hey that’s great really, a suite of software that can do everything for you, but I’m what most would consider an enthusiast user, I tweak my system to run at max performance and have all of my settings exactly the way that I want them to be, I don’t like it when something comes along and forces me to change my way of doing things just to use it. So it’s not a bad thing, it just depends on who you are and what type of user you are as to how this can be taken and used by the end user.

So fine, it doesn’t work with anything above Nero7, I talked to tech support and the next version of the EZ-DUB will have Nero8 support. Though that doesn’t negate the fact that it doesn’t work with the latest version of a very popular software. and also considering that Nero9 just came out as well. So we’ve got an end product that only currently works with older, outdated software. Again though, I’m an enthusiast and I try and have all of the latest software and hardware out there today, the average user doesn’t upgrade like I do, so I’m sure there are many people still running Nero7 right now and are completely happy with it.

>The main feature of the EZ-DUB, and one that I find quite useful, is the two touch sensitive buttons on the side labeled ‘File’ and ‘Dub’. This is why you must install Nero7 to make use of these buttons, without these it’s just another external CD/DVD drive like all the others out there today.

Touching the File Button opens up a graphical interface that allows you to just drag and drop files into the picture, once the capacity of the disc is full you can then burn it.

Touching the second button labeled Dub allows you to copy discs, if you have a second drive in your system you can also enable ‘copy on the fly’ or direct disc to disc copying, it’s faster but there are chances of errors occurring.

The buttons are very useful really, just tap the button and you’re ready to go, and the drag and drop interface is great and easy to use.

The next problem I ran into was disc reading, this only pertained to one disc that really, Crysis, I think that the problem lies with the protection scheme on the disc and not so much as the drive itself, though it should be able to read the disc by default. I put the Crysis disc into the drive and the activity light came on, it spins and spins and makes a ticking sound, after about two minutes of this I gave up and just stuck it on my other drive. It’s an optical drive and it’s expected to read all of our discs, where the problem is I’m not too sure, Crysis was read fine by both my Sony and Pioneer DVDRW drives, but obviously there is a problem somewhere, and I’m betting it’s with the DRM or Copy Protection on the Crysis disc itself.

I know it seems like all I’ve got are bad things to say about this product, and to a point yes that’s correct, but it’s from my point of view, and my observations, and I have to include these things to do an honest review to help cover all of the bases.

To look at this objectively though, the only problem that I encountered that might effect an average user was the disc reading one, the drive should be able to read all discs, especially since it’s newer than the game I was trying to read from it.

As for the included Nero7 Essentials and the average user, well they might like the fact that it indexes all of the multimedia files on their hard drive, and they might like the search option easily handy in the taskbar.

As for the actual performance of the Liteon drive, I compared it to my Sony18x DVDRW/DL drive. I was curious since the Liteon is an external USB drive, and my Sony is an internal IDE, even though the Sony is only 18x, I thought that it might still beat out the Liteon since it was using the USB connection, but I was wrong. I used Neros own testing software, CD-DVD Speed and ran the Create Disk Test and the Overall Benchmark test as well to compare the drive to one another.

Here’s the results for the Liteon, Benchmark and Creation tests:

and here’s the results for my Sony drive:

Here’s a graph comparing the main results of the tests, Average Speed, Random Access, and Average Creation Speed.

Creation Speed and Average Speed results are higher is better and Random Access is lower is better.

As we can see the Liteon, even though running through the USB connection, is a better drive when it comes to raw performance.

The drive itself is quiet when in operation but I did notice that I could feel the vibrations through my desk, I’m sure that’s because it’s an external device though, as the same thing can usually be felt with an external hard drive as well, just not as pronounced as with the optical drive.

< any to addition useful very a be can and built solidly feels it well, travel should made well seems unit>

Images

Conclusion:

Enthusiasts point of view aside, the Liteon EZ-DUB is a great product, and it comes bundled with probably the most popular burning suite available today.

The EZ-DUB is something that can be a very useful addition to any one’s computer system, be it a desktop or a laptop. The EZ-DUB is an external optical drive making it very portable if need be, even though it’s connected via USB it still performs very well.

If you’re in the market for an external DVDRW then give this one a look really, it’s not a bad choice.

I have to be honest though, if you’ve upgrade to anything above Nero7 I’d stay away from this product as you’ll have to downgrade to make full use of it and it’s features.

Pros:

-Works well

-Well made

-Fast drive

-Portable

-Easy to use

Cons:

-Not compatible with Nero8 or Nero9

-Media compatibility problems

-Must install every feature of Nero7

Grades:

Overall:

Design:

Performance:

Liteon EZ-DUB External DVD RW Drive DX-20A4PU is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog