Samsung announced today the Super-WriteMaster SH-S203 DVD burner, the world's first to offer 16x recording for DVD+R DL media.
The SH-S203 is a 20X Serial ATA (SATA) DVD burner that offers the fastest DVD+R/-R and DVD+R DL write speeds available on the market today and supports all CD/DVD discs including DVD-RAM. The SH-S203 is shipping in with a street price of $70 and is being introduced today at the company's storage press conference in New York City.
The SH-S203 features: 20X DVD±R recording, 12X DVD-RAM recording, 16X DVD+R Dual Layer recording, 12X DVD-R Dual Layer recording, 8X DVD+RW recording and 6X DVD-RW recording.
The DVD+RW Alliance released specifications for 12x and 16x DVD+R DL formats in April. Writing a DVD+R DL disc at 16x requires approximately 9 minutes. The availability of 16x DVD+R DL discs is also expected to boom later this year. Ricoh, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, Moser Baer, CMC Magnetics and Ritek have obtained certification for 8x DVD+R DL disc. In addition, Ricoh and Ritek have further received certification for 16x DVD+R DL discs.
Samsung's first 20X DVD drive supports the SATA interface, with SATA PCs now dominating the PC market. With its SATA interface, the SH-S203 eliminates the need for Master/Slave jumper settings and provides thinner data cables, improving airflow and cable routing.
"Samsung's new SH-S203 is the faster DVD writer on the market giving users the ability to burn more data faster than ever before," said Kurt Schulz, national sales manager, Samsung Storage Division.
The drive features over speed recording, the ability to write with 20X speed on 16X media and 16X speed on 12X media. As lower speed media is more cost affordable than higher speed media, users can save money by using lower speed media while still reaping the benefit of recording at super fast burn times.
The SH-S203 offers true 20X recording and with its improved speed can backup 4.7GB of data on a DVD±R disc in about 4 minutes and 38 seconds, a 12% increase in speed from Samsung?s prior 18X DVD burner. Samsung's SH-S203 also offers free software that allows consumers to create music, video, photo and data discs. In addition, the drive includes Samsung's Firmware Live Update that enables users to download the latest firmware upgrades for free.
The SH-S203, as with Samsung's full suite of WriteMaster DVD drives, offers multiple technologies including: Speed Adjustment Technology, to match the speed to the functionality of the disc; Tilt Actuator Compensation (TAC) for preferred writing condition when interacting with the objective lens; and Double Optimum Power Control, which balances the laser power on the sides of the disc for a better writing performance. Buffer Under Run Error is avoided by the power save attribute. The Automatic Ball Balancing System5 (ABS) further reduces vibration and noise. The drive is also eco-friendly and is RoHS compliant.
Basic specifications:
Pioneer, Sony and Lite-On IT, are also expected to release DVD burners featuring 16x DVD+R DL later this year.
At the same event, Samsung also unveiled its new, WriteMaster SE-T084L slot-loading portable DVD burner, aimed at notebook users. The drive supports 8cm DVD RW discs and LightScribe technology for creating burned-on labels on compatible DVD media.
The portable drive also supports full USB bus power, and offers the following recording speeds: 8X DVD+R, 6X DVD+R DL, 8X DVD+RW/DVD-R, 4X DVD-R DL, 6X DVD-RW and 5X DVD-RAM.