In this case, a picture is worth one-word... WOW!



EDIT:  This was burned on my Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi/AP

Here is a screen capture from InfoTool.

(in reply to SithTracy)

Hi
Looking good.
I'm glad about that.
For a while I thought you were going to have problems, but you got it sorted.
This has to be THE DRIVE of the moment for speed/quality ratio.
Well done m8.

(in reply to SithTracy)

I think a lot might have been AHCI related... got that tip from CDFREAKS @ the Pioneer forum and then loaded the August 2 release of the Intel Matirx Storage drivers and BAM!  The drive came alive.

Thanks for drawing my attention to that drive... Very impressed.  I'll admit I was very skeptical, especially since LITE-ON has not impressed me with their implementation of the Mediatek chipset.  Samsung has it right.

To the admins here @ CDRinfo.com... this would be a great drive to review.

(in reply to Zebadee)

Hi
I am pleased it seems to be working out for everyone.
Believe it or not the 203 is the 1st drive since the BenQ 1640. That I have recommended almost unconditionally. 

Edit: Oh yes with regards to Lite-On, I have to admit I can't see how they got/get their reputation. Other than the support of a certain forum.
Samsung appears to show it's not the H/W holding things back either.

(in reply to SithTracy)

quote:

Believe it or not the 203 is the 1st drive since the BenQ 1640. That I have recommended almost unconditionally.

I can understand that... I still have my BenQ DW1640 in my AMD rig, but I don't burn with it anymore... just do scans.  I'm with you on recommending the Samsung SH-S203B... though it seems the IDE version (202B) does not stand out like the SATA (203B).

(in reply to Zebadee)

After a few days of beating on this Samsung SH-S203B, I can say I am very happy with it.  It exceeded my expectations for my uses (including CD-R)... I ordered a second for my AMD nForce 4 rig.  Would love to see CDRinfo review this drive.

(in reply to Zebadee)

Love this drive!!!  Got it today, from Newegg.  Worst burn was on older 2.4X-4.0X Mitsubishi DVD+R Dual Layer at 92%.  That was scanned via the Samsung drive.  When I scan ANY burns done on the drive on my Benq DW1640, I get 2% more positive.  One funky issue...I got the drive with the 00 firmware.  Went to the Samsung website and downloaded 01.  When I went to run the program...Vista wouldn't run it.  I had to download Live Update and run from there...no biggie...done with no issues using LU.  Any thought as to why the file didn't work? 

Bob

(in reply to SithTracy)

Hi
File does work.
Maybe not in the way you expected.
See here:-                 
Manual f/w flashing:   http://www.ultimate-dvdr.com/30302-post15.html     

You may also find this useful.
Bitsetting :                    http://www.ultimate-dvdr.com/29989-post9.html   

(in reply to bomitch)

quote:

ORIGINAL: bomitch

...I got the drive with the 00 firmware.  Went to the Samsung website and downloaded 01.  When I went to run the program...Vista wouldn't run it.  I had to download Live Update and run from there...no biggie...done with no issues using LU.  Any thought as to why the file didn't work? 

Bob

Do you have WinRAR?  You can open the SH-S203B_SB01.exe with WinRAR and extract the firmware file and the updater executable and flash with that.

(in reply to bomitch)

Thanks for the heads up.  I finally figured out last evening that you run the executable from the website directly.  However, it is the one click flash...so I ended up flashing the drive again.  Ran some checks...all seems well.

Thanks again for the replies...all is good!

Bob

(in reply to SithTracy)

It's a great drive, isn't it!!!

Zebadee is right, best thing since the BenQ DW1640.  This is the only drive most people will need.  If you have good media (Verbatim DVD+R MCC 004) you can feel pretty confident without scanning... or use the reg-hack to use the Samsung as a scanner (minus jitter scanning).

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ahead\Nero Toolkit\CD Speed\CD Quality]
"Blocked"="SAMSUNG,TSST,HL-DT-ST,PLEXTOR"

Remove SAMSUNG and TSST.

(in reply to bomitch)

I have the Benq 1640 as well...with a beige bezel...so it's not in my new machine, which is all black.  But I can't even begin to state how good this drive is.  At 16X burns...it is as good as the Benq.  The quality of the 18X / 20X burns is a bonus...

(in reply to SithTracy)

Here's a scan of some old TY media I found in my supply this weekend... Very nice, but the Verbatim MCC004 is the best I've had so far.

(in reply to SithTracy)

SithTracy

The Taiyo Yuden burn is EXCELLENT!  Believe it or not...I think the Sammie burns anything well...but 98% is another WOW!

(in reply to SithTracy)

Well, not anything!  Someone gave me some Maxell DVD+R's (CMC MAG-M01-00) and I get a quality score of "0" in about 10 seconds of the scan...  If you want to burn "anything" with decent results, the Pioneer DVR-212D (or 112D) will likely fit the bill.  If your gonna use the Sammy, use Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden media (when I buy media, that is the only options I will consider).

(in reply to bomitch)