What's in the box?:
- Samsung SH-S203N 20x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- Software Installation and Electronic User's Manual CD
- Setup Guide
- SATA Cable
- Mounting Screws
- Warranty Information
Physical Features:
The drive Samsung sent us for this review was manufactured in September of 2007 and came preloaded with firmware SB00.For this review we used firmware versions SB00 and SB01.
The look of Samsung's drives really hasn't changed much over the last few years. While they've gotten new features and faster speeds, the basic design has remained the same. The SH-S203N is no exception. From the front, it's almost identical to Samsung's previous DVD writers, sharing not only the bezel design, but many of the same logos. Along with the large "Samsung" and "Super WriteMaster" logos, you can see a few showing support for the DVD Multi specification as well as HP's LightScribe technology.
Below the tray you can see the SH-S203N's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up green when the drive is reading or writing.
The rear of the SH-S203N is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's SATA interface and power connector.
Technical Specs:
The specs below have been taken from Samsung's website and the manual located on the software CD.
| Samsung SH-S203N 20x DVD±RW/RAM | |
| CD Write Speeds | 48x (CAV) 40x, 32x, 24x (P-CAV) 16x, 8x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 32x, 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 20x, 18x, 16x, 12x (CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 20x, 18x, 16x, 12x (CAV) 8x, (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x, 10x, 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 12x, 10x, 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 12x (P-CAV) 5x, 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD Read Speeds | 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 12x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 16x Max (DVD±R) 12x Max (DVD±RW) 12x Max (DVD±R DL) 12x Max (DVD-RAM) |
| CD Read Speeds | 48x Max (CD-ROM) 40x Max (CD-R/CD-RW) |
| DAE Speed | 40x Max |
| Buffer Size | 2 MB |
| Random Access Times |
110 ms (CD) 130 ms (DVD) |
| CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM CD-ROM XA CD-R CD-RW CD+E(G) CD-MIDI Mixed Mode CD Photo CD Video CD CD-Extra CD-I CD-I Bridge Multisession CD CD-Text |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD-RAM |
LightScribe:
Note: We took a much closer look at LightScribe technology in our review of the BenQ DW1625. In this review we'll just go over some of the basics and see how the DH-20A3H performs with the bundled software.
The SH-S203N is one of the latest drives from Samsung to feature LightScribe technology. Developed by HP, LightScribe lets you burn durable, silk screen quality labels directly onto your CD's and DVD's using the same drive that burned the data. According to HP, it's as simple as burning the data, flipping the disc, and then burning the label.
Of course you can't do this with just any drive, media or software. While LightScribe capable drives use the same laser when burning both the data and label, they have to be able to accurately control the laser's focus and position as well as the spindle speed. They also must be able to recognize LightScribe media. These special discs have a thin dye coating on the label side that absorbs laser light. This triggers a chemical reaction that produces a color change, allowing the user to print text, artwork or graphics.
Even if you have a LightScribe capable drive and media, you will need software that supports it. Most major software companies have pledged support for the technology. However, at the time of this review, the list of compatible software is still relatively short. For the SH-S203N, Samsung turned to Nero. Using the bundled software you can both create and burn LightScribe disc labels.
Once you've created your LightScribe label, you're ready to print it. Before you can do this, though, you will need to choose the contrast. Keep in mind this option not only changes the level of detail, it also affects the amount of time it takes to print the label. The higher the quality, the longer the process will take.
How long does it take to print a label? For testing purposes, we printed a disc using Memorex's LightScribe Cool Colors (v1.2) CD-R media, and the quality was set to "best". The results are shown below.
 |
| Memorex LightScribe CD-R (v1.2) - 34 minutes |
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that Samsung's new DVD writer is identified as a "TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203N."
Nero shows that the SH-S203N has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer, which is backed up by MediaTek's Super Link technology. According to Nero, Samsung's new DVD writer can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the SH-S203N is a "two sheep" burner and is capable of backing titles protected by SafeDisc 2.90. Like most drives, it did not pass the "three sheep" test.
Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the SH-S203N's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the SH-S203N is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the SH-S203N's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see Samsung's new drive supports the Mt. Rainier format and can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media.
Samsung's new DVD writer also supports a feature called "bitsetting".Using software like Nero, you can set the book type forDVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media to "DVD-ROM". This feature comes in handy if you have an older DVD player that has problems playing recordable media.
