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This story was printed from CdrInfo.com,
located at http://www.cdrinfo.com.
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Appeared on: Friday, August 18, 2006
Samsung SH-S182D SB02


1. Introduction

Today we will be reviewing the SH-S182D, which is the first 18X DVD±R burner released by Samsung. Many improvements have been made since the previous release models, with the Samsung drives finally supporting 8X writing for DVD-R DL media. The drive now also supports the new 12X DVD-RAM media.

- Drive Features

Let's have a look at the drive's unique features as reported by Samsung.

Speed Adjustment Technology
Intelligent detection of media type. Error-free reading of all media types, increases life of drive.
Double O.P.C. Technology
Provides reliable, zero-error recording.
Tilt Actuator Compensation Technology
Improves recording capability on deformed media.
Magic Speed
Enables flexibility of drive operation, low noise mode, high-speed mode.
Buffer Under Run Free Technology
Prevents Buffer Under Run error, enabling high-speed writing of media.
Weight Balance System Technology
Mechanically designed for minimal vibration and noise.
Eco-Product
Minimal Usage of drive operation, low noise mode, high-speed mode.
Firmware Live Update
Automatically upgrades the latest firmware version through Internet by continued support of newer media.

- Specifications

Model Samsung SH-S182D
Data Transfer Media Type Write Read
DVD+R 18X (24.3MB/sec) 12X (16.2MB/sec)
DVD+R DL 8X (10.8MB/sec) 8X (10.8MB/sec)
DVD+RW 8X (10.8MB/sec) 8X (10.8MB/sec)
DVD-R 18X (24.3MB/sec) 12X (16.2MB/sec)
DVD-R DL 8X (10.8MB/sec) 8X (10.8MB/sec)
DVD-RW 6X (8.1MB/sec) 8X (10.8MB/sec)
DVD RAM 12X (16.2MB/sec) 12X (16.2MB/sec)
DVD ROM - 16X (21.6MB/sec)
CD ROM - 48X (7.2MB/sec)
CD-R 48X (7.2MB/sec) 40X (6.0MB/sec)
CD-RW 32X (4.8MB/sec) 40X (6.0MB/sec)
Burst Transfer Rate PIO Mode 4 (16.6MB/sec)
Ultra DMA Mode 2 (33.3MB/sec)
Average Seek Time DVD : 130ms
CD : 110ms
Supported Disc DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-RW, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, CD-Audio, Video-CD, Photo CD, CD-I(FMV), CD-Extra, CD-TEXT
Buffer Memory 2MB
Dimensions
(WxHxD mm)
148.2x 42x 184
Weight (kg) 0.75

Information about the drive from various utilities...

- Nero Info Tool

- DVD Info Pro

General drive information, including firmware revision...

And the drive's media support features...

- VSO Inspector

- Retail Package

The Retail package includes:

- Front panel view

- Rear panel view

- Top view

We removed the cover to take a closer look inside the drive. Removing the cover renders the warranty void, so we strongly advise against it. Click on the image below for a larger, more detailed view of the drive.

The drive uses the Mediatek chipset, which is widely used in LiteOn drives as well.

- Installation

The drive was installed under WindowsXP and was recognized as "TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D ". The drive came with the SB01 firmware installed, which was an outdated version. Samsung kindly sent us the latest firmware release, SB02.

Throughout this review, we will be comparing the Samsung model with two other latest release drives, the Plextor PX-760A (which is also an 18X burner), and the NEC 4571A.

Having looked at the main features and contents of the drive's retail box, let's move on to the rest of the review and get the testing under way.


2. CD-DVD Reading

- CD Format

For our CD transfer rate tests, we used the Nero CD-Speed utility and a set of Pressed CDs. Let's take a look at how the drive performed as compared with the other two drives.

All three drives support 48X CD reading speed. The starting speed for the Samsung drive was half that of the other drives at 10X, however its average reading speed was the highest as was the end speed of 50X.

The max supported speed for CD-RW media is 40X for the three drives. In this test, all three drives had similar results with very little between them.

- AudioCD

In AudioCD extraction, the supported speed for the drives is 40X. All three drives produced a perfect DAE quality score.


- 90mins Audio disc

- 99mins Audio disc

Surprisingly enough, the Samsung SH-S128D drive successfully read both the 90 and 99 min audio discs. Note, that not many DVD recorders out there are able to read these discs...

- DVD Format

Now let's have a look at how the drive performs with DVD media. This time, a set of DVD media was used, both SL and DL.

 

16X reading speed on DVD-ROM Single Layer media was achieved by all the tested drives. Any speed differences between the drives are negligible.

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, progressing towards its outer range.

- With DVD DL media, the Samsung was noticeably slower, due to the fact that it supports a lower reading speed of 8X with DL media.

 

The above graph shows the reading performance of the drive with OTP dual layer media. The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here is the reading strategy of the second layer of the disc. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks towards the inner part of the disc.

- Once again, the Samsung drive was slower.

 

The supported reading speeds for DVD±R/RW media are very important since these are the most common formats. The Samsung and Plextor drives support only 12X reading for DVD±R and the Samsung is the slowest reader for DVD±RW supporting only 8X. The average reading speeds presented in the graphs above reflect this.

Slow average ripping speed was produced by the Samsung SH-S182D...

- DVD-RAM

The drive can read read and write DVD-RAM media at 12X. Unfortunately, we did not have any 12X media available, but Samsung will be sending us some samples so that we can complete our tests. This review will be updated as soon as we have those results. In the meantime, we carried on with our usual test with 5X DVD RAM media. For our test, we used a 5X DVD-RAM disc from Maxell, burned with the LG GSA-4120B. The disc was read without any problems.

-Appendix

Nero CD-DVD Speed Graphs

CD Pressed / US-RW / AudioCD

DVD Pressed SL / DVD Pressed PTP DL / DVD Pressed OTP DL / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD-RAM 5x


3. CD Error Correction

In the following tests, we check the drive's behavior when reading scratched / defective audio discs. The test discs used were the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

Errors total Num: 958818
Errors (Loudness) dB(A) Num: 50656 Avg: -73.8 dB(A) Max: -35.0 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples Num: 3095 Avg: 1.0 Samples Max: 8 Samples
Skips Samples Num: 0 Avg: 0.0 Samples Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result 76.8 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy 99.7 %

The total error count is not too high, the maximum error loudness is very low and no samples were skipped. The good performance is rewarded with a good Test Result score of 76.8.

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total Num: 0
Errors (Loudness) dB(A) Num: 0 Avg: -174.0 dB(A) Max: -174.0 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples Num: 0 Avg: 0 Samples Max: 0 Samples
Skips Samples Num: 0 Avg: 0 Samples Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result 100.0 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy 100.0 %

This is a much easier test disk than the previous one and most drives pass this test with a near perfect score. Lately though, it has been a rare site to see a drive attain a perfect score as the Samsung drive did here. Very good result for both the ABEX test discs.

 

- CD-Check Audio Test Disc

The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction / Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination with disc error patterns to rate the drive's abilities to read music and reproduce it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively more difficult tests. These tracks are referred to as Check Level-1 through Check Level-5.

The tracks are reproduced through a software multimedia player (e.g. Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction of the tested drive.

Error Level
1
2
3
4
5
Pioneer DVR-111
5/5
5/5
5/5
0/5
0/5

With this test disc, the SH-S182D reported average performance, achieving flawless reading in 3 out of 5 tracks.

- Summary

Overall, Samsung seems to have good CD Error correction capabilities.


4. DVD Error Correction

In the following tests, we examined the DVD reading capabilities of the drive with scratched / defective DVD media. For the tests, we used CDVD Benchmark and Nero CDSpeed. The reference test media comes from ALMEDIO.

- Single Layer media

ABEX TDR-821

This is a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with a 4.7GB capacity, and its surface has an artificial scratch of dimensions varying from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.

The following transfer rate picture comes from the CDVD Benchmark v1.21 transfer rate test.

Apart from the jump upwards just after the start, it is a steady graph, reaching 16X reading speed at the end.

ABEX TDR-825

This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM of 4.7GB capacity. The data structure of the disc is exactly the same as that of the TDR-821, with the difference that there are no scratches on it but instead, defective areas of dimensions ranging from 0.5 to 1.1 mm.

There are also fingerprints sized between 65 and 75 micrometers.

Steady speed graph and the drive reached its maximum reading speed of 16X.

- Dual Layer media

ABEX TDR-841

This is an 8.5GB dual layer, single sided DVD-ROM disc with artificial scratches of dimensions ranging from 0.4 to 3.0mm, on both layers.

No errors in this case either. Note that the reading speed in this case goes up to 8X, which is the maximum supported speed for DL media with this drive.

ABEX TDR-845

The disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of 8.5GB. The only difference between the TDR-845 and the TDR-841 is that the first includes defective areas and fingerprints.

The dimensions of the defective areas range from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints are sized from 65 to 75 micrometers.

Once again, the 8X max reading speed was achieved and the test finished successfully.
ABEX TDV-541

The TDV-541 is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc, with a capacity of 8.5GB.The disc is based upon the TDV-540 series which is designed for inspection and adjustment of DVD-VIDEO players. The disc checks the layer switch operation from layer 0 to layer 1 and also includes test pictures and test signals for DVD sound files.

The current TDV-541 also checks the error correcting capabilities of the drive and includes scratches from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.

The drive managed to complete the reading of this test media, without any speed drops or problems.

ABEX TDV-545

The TDV-545 disc is based on the TDV-540 series. It is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc with a capacity of 8.5GB.

The TDV-545 includes artificial black dots on the data surface, sized from 0.4 to 1.0 mm. It also has 65 - 75 micrometer fingerprints.

Excellent reading from the Samsung drive. The artificially embedded dots and fingerprints did not present a problem for the drive's error correction mechanism.

- Summary

Overall, excellent error correction mechanism, capable of reading over defective areas, without speed drops or problems of any kind.


5. Audio & Data Protection Tests

At this point, we will check the drive's ability to read and backup protected CDs.

- AudioCD protections

For the test procedure, we used three audio discs with different audio copy protection schemes. The ripping process on all protected Audio discs was carried out with Exact Audio Copy v0.9 beta5.

The protected Audio discs tested, were:

Audio Discs Protection
Celine Dion - New Day Has Come Sony's Key2Audio
Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island Cactus Data Shield 200
Aiko Katsukino - The Love Letter Cactus Data Shield 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a

The Cactus Data Shield 200, contains artificial errors that are not easily bypassed by the reader, while the Key2Audio contains a second session causing problems to readers when trying to read the Table Of Contents (TOC).

The tested tasks are:

- Recognition of the inserted disc (Yes/No).

- Ripping all wav files(with EAC's Burst Mode) to the hard disk through copy&compare function.

- Listening to the produced wav files to detect any possible click/skips.

The drive recognized up to the 12th Audio track in the CDS200 disc,

and with the "Retrieve Native TOC" option removed, the drive recognized the 13th track.

The test results are shown in the following table:

Samsung SH-S182D Key2Audio CDS200
Ripping process completed, EAC reports no problems, Read&Test CRC comparison successful for all tracks The drive could not rip the specific media.

The Samsung SH-S182D did not manage to read/rip the Cactus Data Shield 200 AudioCD protected disc.

- Cactus Data Shield 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a (Aiko Katsukino - The Love Letter)

This is a "special" CDS200 build, since it doesn't contain any artificial errors which create problems during the ripping process. Most problems occur when trying to write the ripped wav files, since the produced CD-R disc contains C2 and CU errors! This "problem" is rumored to be connected to specific chipset weaknesses.

Samsung SH-S182D CDS 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a
Reading performed without any errors.

- Games Protections

To create the image of the various protected titles on the hard disk, we used Alcohol 120% software and the appropriate settings, in accordance with the protection type of the inserted discs. Below you can see the duration of each process as well as the transfer rate in each case.

Good steady ripping with all three protection schemes.

- Writing Tests

The Samsung SH-S182D supports the DAO-RAW writing mode. To check the drive's EFM correction status, we used 2 different game titles with two different SafeDisc versions, having the latest software patches installed. After making the images of the various titles onto the hard disk, we burned them (at maximum speed) with Alcohol 120% v1.9.2.3105. Two different discs were recorded for each title; one with the "Rectify Sub-Channel Data" enabled and one with the function disabled.

- Quake 4 - Safedisc v4.6x

- Fifa 2004 - Safedisc v3.1x

To its credit, the Samsung SH-S182D succeeded in making a working back-up of the Safedisc v3.1x protected game, but failed to do the same with Safedisc v4.6x, since there is no drive to date that is capable of bypassing this protection scheme.


6. CD Burning

- CD-R Format

The drive supports 8X, 16X, 24X, 32X, 40X and 48X (CAV) writing speeds.

According to Nero CDSpeed, the reported average speed when recording at 48X is 37.19X.

- CD-R Recording Times

We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom and recorded it on a 700MB disc. The writing performance varies according to the media. Below is a chart showing all recording times with various media.

As the first of the above graphs indicates, not all inserted media were burned at the max 48X speed. Taiyo Yuden media was burned at 40X in 3:02mins, while Moser Baer media was also burned at 40X in 3:07mins.

- Other features

The drive supports CD Overburning up to 101mins. Note that this test is carried out with a 99min disc. No such overburning is possible on an 80min CD, while not many drives can write to 99min discs.

- CD-RW Format

The drive supports both the HS-RW and US-RW formats. With RW media, 4x CLV, 10x CLV, 16x CLV, 20x ZCLV, 24x Z CLV and 32x ZCLV writing speeds are available.

The drive, when recording at 32X , reported an average writing speed of 28.05X.


7. Plextools CD Quality Measurements

We measured the C1 / C2 error rate on the recorded discs we burned at the various supported writing speeds. The software we used is the latest PleXTools Professional and in particular, the built-in Q-Check utility. The Plextor PX-716A was the reader.

- BenQ 80min 52X @ 48X

- Moser Baer 80min 52X @ 40X

- Memorex 80min 52X @ 48X

- Creation 80min 48X @ 48X

- Taiyo Yuden 80min 48X @ 40X

- Summary

According to the above scans produced with Plextools Q-check, the reported C1 levels were low for most of the media but extremely high C2 and CU values were reported in the case of Memorex media, while Taiyo Yuden and BenQ media seem to offer the best quality.


8. Clover Systems CD Quality Measurements

The Clover System CDX Compact Disc Analyzer is a high-speed tool to quantitatively measure the quality of a CD. It will analyze CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I, CD-R, Photo-CD, Enhanced CD and CD-RW discs at 4X, 8X, 24X, 32X or 40X speeds. It effectively measures disc quality by examining the quantity and severity of CIRC errors generated during playback. It also provides the capability to measure signal parameters related to pit geometry, such as asymmetry and reflectivity. When put together, all these facts provide a thorough analysis of disc quality. The Clover System Analyzers can also perform various format-checking tests on data discs, and do bit-for-bit data comparison on all types of CDs. All tests are carried out at a maximum speed of 40X.

CIRC error correction uses two principles to detect and correct errors. The first is redundancy (extra information is added, which gives an extra chance to read the disc), and the second is interleaving (data is distributed over a relatively large physical area). The CIRC error correction used in CD players uses two stages of error correction, the well known C1 and C2, with de-interleaving of the data between the stages.

The error type E11 means one bad symbol was corrected in the C1 stage. E21means two bad symbols were corrected in the C1 stage. E31 means that there were three or more bad symbols at the C1 stage. This block is uncorrectable at the C1 stage, and is passed to the C2 stage. Respectively, E12 means one bad symbol was corrected in the C2 stage and E22 means two bad symbols were corrected in the C2 stage. E32 means that there were three or more bad symbols in one block at the C2 stage, and therefore this error is not correctable.

BLER (Block Error Rate) is defined as the number of data blocks per second that contain detectable errors, at the input of the C1 decoder. Since this is the most general measurement of the quality of a disc, you will find BLER graphs for all media tested below. If you click on the images you can see a more detailed table, indicating error levels. The Red Book specification (IEC 908) calls for a maximum BLER of 220 per second averaged over ten seconds. Discs with higher BLER are likely to produce uncorrectable errors. Al low BLER shows that the system as a whole is performing well, and the pit geometry is good. However, BLER only tells us how many errors were generated per second, and it does not tell us anything about the severity of those errors.

- BenQ 80min 52X @ 48X

- Moser Baer 80min 52X @ 40X

- Memorex 80min 52X @ 48X

- Creation 80min 48X @ 48X

- Taiyo Yuden 80min 48X @ 40X

- Summary

According to the CDX Clover Systems Quality Check measurements, none off the above CD media, burned with the Samsung SH-S182D, managed to meet the quality criteria and receive a pass rating. As with the results from Plextools Professional Q-Check, here too we see that Memorex media has the worst rating and BenQ the best.

9. DVD Writing Times

Writing Performance

Now we will check the burning quality with DVD media. Below, the available writing speeds, as reported by Nero Burning Rom.

By using Nero CDSpeed with DVD-R and DVD+R media, we are able to see the 18X writing strategies.

- DVD+R media @ 18X CAV

- DVD-R media @ 18X CAV

- Burning Tests

DVD-R media

The Samsung SH-S182D burner's writing times were good, managing 18X burning with our Verbatim 16X media in a time under 6 minutes. Impressive is the time needed with the Moser Baer disc, just 6:00min. RiDisc and ProdiscF01 8X certified media were burned as 4X media. A new firmware release should hopefully fix this.

DVD+R media

The compatibility list for 16X is good for DVD+R, with the exception of Datawrite Titanium 16X media which was recognized and burned at 8X. The time of 5:21 min with Taiyo Yuden media, burned at 18X is impressive.

- Comparison with other drives

The lower the better...

- DVD Overburning Tests

Using Nero CD-DVD Speed, we tested to see if the drive can overburn using DVD+R and DVD-R media. Unfortunately, the drive does not support overburning.

- DVD-RAM

The SH-S182D, supports DVD-RAM reading and writing at 5X and 12X.

As Maxell stated: "DVD-RAM is an advanced recording media format that offers a range of digital data applications. Its phase-change recording material allows discs to be re-recordable and erasable, and a superior defect management system ensures accurate recording and playback. DVD-RAM allows instant, random access to any location on the disc for fast and easy data reading and writing. Because DVD-RAM supports fast formatting and no finalizing, it is an extremely easy-to-use media. And with DVD-RAM, changes can be made directly on the disc without the need to transfer data to a hard drive first, speeding up the editing tasks..."

- Burning Tests

Using NeroCDSpeed, we produced the following graph:

The drive started writing at 4.83X and using the CLV strategy, reached 5.00X max writing speed, reporting an average burning speed of 4.80X. The task was completed in 11:39mins.

Using the latest Nero version, we burned our usual Single Layer DVD compilation.

The writing procedure ended after 39:04mins. Normally, the time needed would be much less were it not for the "Write and Verify" feature used when writing DVD-RAM media.


10. 18X DVD+R Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers equipped with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-716A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should not be taken as the absolute criterion of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

18X DVD+R Writing Speed

- Plextor 16X DVD+R @ 18X

- Verbatim 16X DVD+R @ 18X

- Summary

Both media produced smooth CDSpeed reading graphs, while the Plextools graphs report levels within acceptable limits.


11. 16X DVD+R Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers equipped with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-716A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should not be taken as the absolute criterion of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

16X DVD+R Writing Speed

- BenQ 16X DVD+R @ 16X

- Maxell 16X DVD+R @ 16X

- Philips 16X DVD+R @ 16X

- ProdiscS05 16X DVD+R @ 16X

- Ricoh 16X DVD+R @ 16X

- RiDisc 16X DVD+R @ 16X

- Summary

Excellent quality in most cases. Low error counts with Plextools and smooth reading graphs with CDSpeed. Overall, very good writing quality at 16X with DVD+R media.


12. 8X DVD+R Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers equipped with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-716A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should not be taken as the absolute criterion of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

8X DVD+R Writing Speed

- Ricoh 8X DVD+R @ 8X

- Datasafe 8X DVD+R @ 8X

- Datawrite Titanium 16X DVD+R @ 8X

- Datawrite Titanium 8X DVD+R @ 8X

- Maxell 8X DVD+R @ 8X

- Opto 8X DVD+R @ 8X

- Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD+R @ 8X

- Summary

Once again, low error rates for most of the media and smooth speed graphs. With the only exception being that of BenQ media, which had a jagged speed graph and produced high PIE values.


13. 18X DVD-R Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests, we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-716A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

18X DVD-R Writing Speed

- Verbatim 16X DVD-R @ 18X

- Summary

This is the only DVD-R media that was burned at 18X. According to Plextools, the error level and count are relatively low. However, CDSpeed produced a somewhat unsteady graph towards the end, at about the same point that we see POE in the Plextools scan.


14. 16X DVD-R Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests, we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-716A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

16X DVD-R Writing Speed

- BenQ 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- Datasafe 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- Maxell 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- Moser Baer 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- ProdiscF02 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- ProdiscS02 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- Ricoh 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- Summary

Quality with DVD-R media at 16X hasn't improved greatly from previous Samsung releases and the reported error count and levels with Plextools were high in most cases. CDSpeed produced some not so steady graphs and failed to complete the reading process for Maxell media. We tried a second LiteOn drive in order to re-read the disc, but unfortunately the results were the same. On the plus side, apart from the Maxell disc, there was no POF with any of the media.


15. 8X DVD-R Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-716A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

8X,4X DVD-R Writing Speed

- Bulkpaq 8X DVD-R @ 8X

- Datawrite 8X DVD-R @ 8X

- Datawrite MACH4 8X DVD-R @ 8X

- Datawrite Yellow 8X DVD-R @ 8X

- Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD-R @ 8X

- ProdiscF01 8X DVD-R @ 4X

- RiDisc 8X DVD-R @ 4X

- Summary

Average quality was reported with 8X media. Some media produced high POE counts and/or levels while the CDSspeed graphs were in the main good with the odd glitch. Bulkpaq was probably the worst overall while best results came with Datawrite 8X and Taiyo Yuden. Note that the Prodisc and RiDisc media were 8X certified but were burned at 4X.


16. DVD +/- RW Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers equipped with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should not be taken as the absolute criterion of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

DVD+RW and DVD-RW Media

- MKM 8X DVD+RW @ 8X

- Ricoh 8X DVD+RW @ 8X

- MKM 6X DVD-RW @ 6X

- Traxdata 6X DVD-RW @ 6X

- Summary

All RW media, despite the fact that we ran a full erase before the burning procedure, produced low quality. Only MKM 6X DVD-RW media reported good quality.


17. DVD Writing Quality - Almedio

The AEC-1000 consists of a DVD Drive and the "ALChecker" error measurement application which can check the written data quality. The application is capable of 1X CLV measurement as well as 4X CLV with DVD-Video/ROM and finalized DVD+R/-R media.

There are three measurement modes:

- Fine Mode: checks a series of eight consecutive ECC blocks,

- Rough Mode: checks eight consecutive ECC blocks every 100h ECC blocks

- Quick Mode: checks three specified areas

The checking status is shown graphically in real time while you can save the error graph at the end of the test. The reported errors are the PI and the UncPO. The PI counts the number of rows corrected by the PI error correction in each group of eight consecutive ECC blocks. The UncPO counts the number of ECC blocks in which more than one bytes are uncorrectable in eight consecutive ECC blocks. For our quality scans, we set for 1X CLV and Fine Mode which is the slowest and produces the safest results.

- Plextor 16X DVD+R @ 18X

- Verbatim 16X DVD+R @ 18X

- RiDisc 16X DVD+R @ 16X

- BenQ 8X DVD+R @ 8X

- Verbatim 16X DVD-R @ 18X

- Maxell 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- Datasafe 16X DVD-R @ 16X

- Datawrite MACH4 8X DVD-R @ 8X

- Summary

The media we chose to measure are those which either failed in CDSpeed or produced extremely unsteady graphs, or had high error levels with Plextools. We also measured all 18X burned media. The errors that we had seen with Plextools are confirmed here in the case of Verbatim-R 18X, Maxell-R and BenQ+R. All other discs that had high error values with Plextools, reported good quality with the Almedio checker.


18. DVD DL Writing

- Writing Tests

We burned some DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs with data content. For this task we used "Create Data Disc" from Nero CDSpeed in order to burn the entire disc.

Mitsubishi Chemicals 8X DVD-R DL @ 8X Z-CLV

According to the graph, the writing strategy is Z-CLV. The reported time of 18:52min is quite fast and is due to the fact that writing at 8X is done over the greater part of the disc's surface.

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4X DVD-R DL @ 4X CLV

This disc is certified for 4X recording, which is the speed at which the Samsung SH-S182D drive burned it. The writing strategy here is CLV.

Ricoh 8X DVD+R DL @ 8X Z-CLV

Let’s move on to the next page and check the quality.


19. DVD DL Writing Quality
- Writing Quality

In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media, we used two readers equipped with two software applications:

- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.

- The Plextor PX-716A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.

In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.

The measurements below should not be taken as the absolute criterion of the burning quality, but as an indication level.

- MKM DVD-R DL 8X @ 8X

- MKM DVD-R DL 4X @ 8X

- Ricoh DVD+R DL 8X @ 8X

- Summary

The writing quality with DL media is average. MKM DVD-R DL 8X media, although reporting reasonable performance with Plextools, presented problems for the LiteON drive and CDSpeed. Again, we repeated the test with another LiteON drive and again, the results were the same.

20. Booktype

The booktype setting is a feature widely supported by almost all recent drives, as it enables the change of the booktype on specific media (DVD+R,+RW,+RDL to DVD-ROM), to achieve maximum compatibility with stand alone players (mostly outdated ones). This can be achieved prior to burning the inserted media or during the burn process (at the beginning with Nero or another burning software).

The Booktype can be effectively changed for all the +R media.


21. Conclusion

It's been some time now since we tested the world's first 18X burner from Plextor and now again we had the opportunity to put another 18X burner through its paces, the SH-S182D from Samsung. The drive supports the high DVD±R DL writing speed of 8X and the newest 12X DVD-RAM media.

At 48X reading speed with CD media in comparison to other drives, we found the SH-S182D a good reader, probably the fastest out there, with a more than capable CD error correction mechanism. The drive supports reading of 90/99min media, while it can also overburn CD media up to 101mins. DVD reading speeds were good, but we would like to see faster speeds with DL media. A higher ripping speed with DVD-Video CSS would also be welcomed. Best of all, its DVD error correction was excellent and none of the inserted media were a problem for the SH-S182D.

Unfortunately, nothing has changed with the protected Audio media, and the Samsung drives are still unable to bypass the CDS200 protection. The good news is that the drive is still capable of creating working backups of games with Safedisc protection up to v3.1. Note that not many drives out there are able to bypass this protection scheme.

In CD writing quality, the drive did not manage to produce good quality CD burns, with the exception of Taiyo Yuden and BenQ media, which according to Plextools, appear to be in good condition. However, the CDX Clover Systems test had a different opinion and marked all media as unacceptable.

DVD writing quality remains the same as with previous release models from Samsung, with the drive preferring DVD+R media and producing some good quality burns, even at 18X speed. Things weren't quite as good with DVD-R media and most of the tested media had bad quality according to Plextools and unsteady speed graphs with CDSpeed. This was more or less confirmed by the Almedio AEC-1000 error checker. With RW media, the reported quality was barely average, while DL quality could have been better.

When it comes to BookType, the drive has by default the BookType set to Automatic and switches all +R media to DVD-ROM. We used the CDSpeed tool in order to change the booktype and didn't face any problems, even with the +RW media, which with the previous Samsung models, the booktype setting change was not recognized and could have been set to DVD-ROM only if the DVD+RW disc was brand new.

- The Good

- The Bad

- Like To be fixed

 

Reading
Error Correction
Protected Discs
Writing
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