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Today we take a look at the new combination CD-RW/DVD-ROM from Samsung. And no, you're not seeing things. The SM-348B offers some of the fastest reading and writing speeds found on a combo drive. Along with 48x CD reading and writing speeds and 24x rewriting speeds, the SM-348B can read DVD's at speeds up to 16x. When it comes to features, the SM-348B has many of the features we've come to expect from Samsung like a huge 8MB buffer and Super Link buffer underrun protection. In this review we take a look at some of the features found on the SM-348B and then see how it performs. Are 48x writing and 24x rewriting speeds enough to make the SM-348B the fastest combo drive around? You'll have to check out the review to find out.

Samsung SM-348B 48/24/48/16 CD-RW/DVD-ROM

If you have any comments or questions about the drive or the review, please post them in the forum by using the link below.

Thanks for the complete review Ian. It backs up the results you gave me earlier. All seems to be there exept the Mt.Rainier support. You also noted that it cannot read from the lead-in and -out. When does this come into play? I've often wondered that when reading reviews but never asked the question.

I like the drive, but to give it a 10 for performance makes me wonder about the grading system. If it would rip all DVD's at 16x I'd agree, but it drops to 6x when doing dual layer dics, +R/RW and-R/RW. That's a bit slow compared to the LTD-166 for instance isn't it? For it to deserve the 10 it needs to rip these dics as fast as a good DVD-ROM player.

Gimme a break about the performance scores. We haven't had a 10 in months.. and this drive definitely deserved it.

Yeah, that is the drive's one weakness. But then again, I haven't found a DVD-ROM yet that will read DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW discs at 16x either. I thought that 6x was damn good.. especially for a combo drive. Once again.. its my opinion. You don't have to agree.

Leadin and leadout are important only if you want to make an "exact" copy of an audio CD. For most people that just want to listen to the music and really don't care about having a bit by bit copy of the retail CD... its not a big deal.

To see how well the GCC-4320B worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 4.0. Samsung's new combo drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was very quiet.

Ian, should't it be SM-348B?

Thanks for the review. I've got another reason to regard this drive as the best-for-all optical drive that does not cost more than $100. It's only 20% more expensive than LG GCE-848x CD writers.

Yeah, you're right. A cut and paste error.

You have just made up my mind on what optical drive i am getting for my new system. Great review. On a side not how important is Lead-in and Lead-out. How will it affect cd playback/copying.

It shouldn't affect playback at all. Read my comments above for copying.

Sorry Ian, didn't mean to get you knickers in a twist .

We always value your opinion on these things (sollicited or otherwise). And for the record: I agree with you on this one. It's by far the best combo I've seen. I might not wait for a drive that supports Mt'Rainier if this one shows up at my local shop.

Does the new firmware update add Mt. Rainier?

MikeTR wrote:Sorry Ian, didn't mean to get you knickers in a twist .

We always value your opinion on these things (sollicited or otherwise). And for the record: I agree with you on this one. It's by far the best combo I've seen. I might not wait for a drive that supports Mt'Rainier if this one shows up at my local shop.

No prob. I sorta spazzed.. sorry about that. I've been up since like 6am.. haven't had enough Dew yet.

I think I know the answer to this question (you have to return the drive after you review it), but why didn't you update the firmware to T503 before the tests?

-Scott

sonyman wrote:I think I know the answer to this question (you have to return the drive after you review it), but why didn't you update the firmware to T503 before the tests?

I was already done testing everything when the T503 firmware came out and it really didn't add any new features or performance enhancements. It just supports more media. As it is, I had already tested it with T501.. and then retested it with T502.. I really didn't want to do it again.

T503 firmware was released a bit late for that.

I thought the 503 was for the Cd-Rw only and not the combo drive

TheOverClocker wrote:I thought the 503 was for the Cd-Rw only and not the combo drive

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7461

T503

Any idea on when stores will have this drive in stock? I guess it will be $130 at places like Best Buy and CompUSA but around $100 online? Any news on LG's new combo drive?

Anyone?

craiger, no one knows. There are already a few places on Pricewatch selling OEM versions of the drive. Maybe hoxlund can look it up in the computer if you ask nicely.

Pricewatch for 105.00 if I am not mistaken

Nice review Ian.
The dealer here in Bombay,India said that these babies should be here by 28-30 December, for Rs 6000 for a full retail pack.. that's about 112$.
Nice writing speeds, awesome DAE... rock on Samsung!

Hi Guys,

Surely Ian is one of the most commited reviewers in the trade. In fact before buying my previous LG drive, I consulted the related review in CDRLABS. But, if I may ask for your honest opinion, how many of you would overlook the lack of MtRainier capability in this drive for it's other advantages. Btw, I understand MtRainier as UDF writing without additional packet writing support (anyways planning to do some reading on this). In the past there had been many shortcomings with Samsung drives, so do you guys think this model really stands up to the expectations?

One last question, what would be the best practical use of MtRainier?

Cheers.

I would overlook the Mt Rainier support without any hesitation. But that is because I don't do any CD-RW rewriting. I just don't trust the reliability of CD-RW media. I have personally seen too many examples of CD-RW media of absolutely terrible quality that leads to bad burns and corrupted files. I'm sure there are some good CD-RW discs out there because people do use CD-RW, but given the troubles I have personally had, I prefer to just avoid it.

Read this for a couple of examples:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 5675#45675

cfitz

integspec wrote:Hi Guys,

Surely Ian is one of the most commited reviewers in the trade. In fact before buying my previous LG drive, I consulted the related review in CDRLABS. But, if I may ask for your honest opinion, how many of you would overlook the lack of MtRainier capability in this drive for it's other advantages. Btw, I understand MtRainier as UDF writing without additional packet writing support (anyways planning to do some reading on this). In the past there had been many shortcomings with Samsung drives, so do you guys think this model really stands up to the expectations?

One last question, what would be the best practical use of MtRainier?

Cheers.

Easy Write as Philips likes to say.

I don't think this drive is not worth $100 for the lack of Mt. Rainier support though I really hope Samsung will seriously support Mt. Rainier and DVD+RW. FYI, PCBee will soon get a Samsung DVD Multi writer to review. Toshiba, Hitachi, Pioneer, Panasonic, and Apple - none of these support Mt. Rainier.

BTW, T504 was released yesterday on the SEC Korean site (which I also mentioned in DVD forum.)