Toshiba-Samsung Storage Tech DVD SD-M1912 drive launched

August 9, 2004

TheInquirer reports that the joint venture of
Japanese Toshiba and South Korean Samsung is responsible for a new DVD-ROM
drive. The SD-M1912 is the first drive that been developed by the joint
venture. Toshiba DVD-ROM drives were widely known because they were working very
well with software that bypasses copy protections.

Toshiba
owns 51% of the TSST joint venture, whereas Samsung owns 49%. Thanks to
the sheer power of the two companies, it is one of the biggest names in
the ODD market. The TSST venture is headquartered in both Japan and Korea.

The TSST drive, entitled the SD-M1912, uses
optical drive technology as well as what the companies are claiming as a
"cutting edge design." Apparently, the SD-M1912 will be one of the fastest
optical drives available on the market. It reads DVDs at a speed of 16x,
and 48x for CD-ROMs.

More information on this drive can be found here. Some
screenshots of e.g. Nero InfoTool information of this drive can be found here. Discuss this in
our Recording Hardware Forum.

Source: TheInquirer