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Hi out there, has anybody purchased the new samsung 18x speed
dvd burner yet and if so how do you rate it.
It is available in the uk now but as yet i,m a bit cautious , not
sure to purchase one. I have seen no up to date reports & tests.

I posted a few screenshots a few weeks ago:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=21857

I have some Nero Disc Quality and KProbe results posted at: http://swopmedia.com/samsung182m_nero_disc_quality.html

I'll also have a comparison between the S182D/M and BenQ DW1650/55 writing various blank media soon.

Check out my thread here:
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... highlight=

I've had problems with Verbatium DVD-R's...but I think I may just have a bum drive. Other than that ONE media type, I love this drive!

I'll find out soon, as I'm getting the Lightscribe version Friday...

Mine seems to burn plus media better and most folks say the same. The last update really helped the d21 sony minus that it made coasters out of with old Firmware.
It's smokin fast for now with media it can do 18x with and quality is pretty good but I can't say I'm as impressed with it as MonsterMan is for now.
It does seem to make good but slow copies to even ritek DL media which is a plus considering how crappy that stuff is.

Don't buy a Samsung S182D until you read this: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=196908

(I'm returning mine today.)

mike18xx wrote:Don't buy a Samsung S182D until you read this: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=196908

(I'm returning mine today.)

Thanks for the update.

Good thing I have plenty of +R type discs left.

For the click impaired: -R discs are being written with a problem in the lead in area...discs are not read by other drives. -R media only.

Here's a visual guide. I added a few arrows to showing the leadin gap.

Spazmogen wrote:

mike18xx wrote:Don't buy a Samsung S182D until you read this: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=196908
(I'm returning mine today.)

Thanks for the update. Good thing I have plenty of +R type discs left. For the click impaired: -R discs are being written with a problem in the lead in area...discs are not read by other drives. -R media only.

I'm having the problem with +R media, and the burn clearly starts more than a millimeter farther in than platters fried in other drives -- so it's an equal-opportunity bug.

There's a REASON when this-year-new top-speed-rated writers are in a $30 clearance bin when the next cheapest writer (slower, with fewer apparant features) is at least ten bucks more (after rebate) -- they're JUNK, the manufacturer knows it effed it up bad, and cares less about its reputation than recovering cost of production by ranching 'em out to fast-buck warehouses staffed with lying salesdweebs (I'm referring to *you*, MicroCenter off Hwy100 in Minneapolis, you garbage-huckers).

mike18xx wrote:There's a REASON when this-year-new top-speed-rated writers are in a $30 clearance bin when the next cheapest writer (slower, with fewer apparant features) is at least ten bucks more (after rebate) -- they're JUNK, the manufacturer knows it effed it up bad, and cares less about its reputation than recovering cost of production by ranching 'em out to fast-buck warehouses staffed with lying salesdweebs (I'm referring to *you*, MicroCenter off Hwy100 in Minneapolis, you garbage-huckers).

Preach on brother. I hear you.

I'll check some of the DVD+R discs I burned tonight to see if the gaps are larger on them too. I already let Sony know there is an issue with the DRU-830A and they've passed it on to the engineers at Sony. Let's hope that they get Samsung to fix it.

Thanks Ian for passing this on to Sony. I'm "worker" from cdfreaks. I have been in email and phone contact with Samsung about this issue. Hearing this from Sony will be a big help in getting them to resolve this.

carl, I have a contact at Samsung in Korea as well but I haven't talked to him in more than a year and his english isn't that great. I figured I'd take it up with Sony first and then if that doesn't go anywhere, take it up with Samsung.

One of the guys at CD Freaks (I think Jan) has some good contacts at Samsung Europe. You might want to see if he can talk to them as well.

Samsung is usually pretty responsive to problems. You just have to find the right people to talk to.

So is the solution to flash the drive with SB01 ?

I'm going to and see what happens.

Flashing with SB01 seems like the best option for now.

thanks carl.


I just did revert back to SB01 and it worked fine.

The CDFreaks thread implied there was an issue with Pioneer drives as well; was that referring to a current issue, or something Pioneer has resolved?

Justin42 wrote:The CDFreaks thread implied there was an issue with Pioneer drives as well; was that referring to a current issue, or something Pioneer has resolved?

Pioneer has long since resolved this. I was just pointing out that others have made this mistake. Samsung is just the latest.

There is now a newer version of SB04, with a link posted here, that fixes the lead-in issue. Jan70 got Samsung to release a "cdfreaks version". As he indicates, this is not an official release but I have tested it and it appears to work well.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=196908&page=2

Thanks again carl.

I'll give it a try tonight after work.