Features

Samsung drives have become so popular because they offer practically every feature you can ask for in a multi-format DVD writer.  Let's briefly cover each...

  It is 2007 that marks the slow but certain switch over to the SATA interface for optical storage drives.  Like a few of their recent models, the new SH-S203N happens to be one of them.  However, as I have demonstrated in a number of previous reviews, there really isn't any advantage here in terms of performance.   

  Without a doubt, the biggest feature this new drive brings to the table is its claimed 16x write speed to DVD+R double layer media.  Unfortunately though, as much as I welcome this feature, the reality is that you will simply be unable to take advantage of it.  In fact, chances are you won't even see these discs hit the market anytime soon.  There are too many issues involved when writing to this media at such high speed plus it is something I wouldn't depend on if you are concerned about optimum quality and playback of media.  I tried extremely hard to get some sample discs but they are simply unavailable at this time.  If you are wondering about the other format that has always been a major step behind, the Samsung SH-S203N can write to DVD-R DL media at 12x.  That's the highest write speed to this media to date but like the +R format, these discs are just not available.

This drive can also write to single layer DVD media at the highest possible speeds.  The drive supports 20x writing to DVD+R media and 16x to DVD-R media. 

The SH-S203N can also write to DVD rewritable media the highest speed of 12x.  However, like some of the other media, these are simply unavailable to consumers.  Fortunately though, I have these sample discs on hand and as I do with each review, a section focusing only on this feature will be provided.

  Moving on to CD media, this drive will support the standard 48x write speed and is capable of writing as high as 32x with rewritable media.

  With Samsung drives, you have to be careful and play close attention to the full model number in order to determine whether the drive does indeed support LightScribe Labeling.  Personally, it is quite irritating when it comes to these particular drives because they are simply not consistent by any means.  For example, some of their drives ending with "L" do support LightScribe but others ending with the letter "M" are the ones that do have this feature.  They confuse you even more with this latest drive though.  This one ends in "N" and is the LightScribe enabled drive in this new series. 

Samsung drives also feature some of their own technology built-in as well. Let's have a very brief look at them before we move on to the good stuff...

Installation

As with all optical drives, install is a breeze on both a Windows XP or Windows Vista system.  In this particular review though, all tests were conducted on a retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit).

This is the first drive review where I decided to run tests using the new Nero 8 Ultimate Edition.  The exact version I decided to stick with for this review is build 8.1.1.0.  Using the new an improved Nero InfoTool, we can see that all its supported features were indeed comfirmed.  Also, this drive was tested with the very latest firmware release from Samsung, version SB01.  In fact, our drive actually shipped with this firmware already in place and there was no need to upgrade.  Considering I personally do not like the approach Samsung takes regarding firmware upgrades, this was plus in terms of providing you all with accurate results you can expect.

The final and most important step when installing any LightScribe-enabled drive is to properly install the LightScribe API system drivers.  This feature has come a long way since its release and there is much higher support from HP.  One of the many is consistent driver releases.  This drive was tested with driver version 1.10.19.1.

Next: CD Read Tests