Samsung SE-S184M DVD Burner Review

December 14, 2006

Review: Samsung SE-S184M
Reviewed by: Dee-27
Provided by: Samsung UK
Firmware: SB02
Manufactured: August 2006

Samsung was kind enough to send us the external SE-S184M for review. In this review we will be seeing how this drive from one the world's largest electronics manufacturers performs in our tests.

The Samsung SE-S184M supports 18x DVD±R, 8x/6x DVD+RW/-RW, and 8x DVD+R DL/-R DL writing technology, allowing Double/Dual Layer discs of 8.5Gb to be written. In addition this drive also supports DVD-RAM at 12x and LightScribe direct disc labelling.

Drive Specifications

We found the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M at Samsung’s website

What’s inside the box

Now it’s time to take a look at the drive itself and what the drive came shipped with.

Our retail package contained the SE-S184M drive itself, vertical mounting stand, UK power cable, power supply unit, USB cable, a quick setup guide and software disc.

Box front

Box back

Box top

Box left and right sides

Box bottom

Now let’s take a look at the drive.

The bezel of the Samsung SE-S184M is nicely styled. We can also see various logos, an emergency eject hole and eject button.

Drive top

Drive bottom

On the bottom of the drive we found two labels and we can see the drive was manufactured in Indonesia during August 2006

On the rear of the drive we can see from left to right, a USB connector, ventilation holes, a power connector and a power switch.

Now let’s head on to the next page were we can take a look at the features of the drive….

Test machine

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUSTeK A8N-SLI DELUXE (nForce 4 SLI chipset)
• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (Toledo) Dual Core
• RAM: 2 GB Corsair TWINX 2CL DDR
• GFX: Leadtek Winfast 6600 TD (PCI E XPress nVidia)
• Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy 2
• Hard disk: 2x 250BG Seagate Barracuda (SATA 2)

System setup:

The Samsung SE-S184M was connected to one of the USB connectors on our test PC and identified itself as TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182M

From the above screenshot, we can see the IDE to USB bridge PCB is powered by an NEC chipset capable of supporting USB2. We will see later on in this review that the Samsung SE-S184M can reach 18x writing speeds on DVD±R media with ease.

And another screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Samsung SE-S184M supports DVD-RAM read/write and LightScribe and Mount Rainier. The drive came shipped with firmware version SB02. We checked for a firmware update but none was available.

Installed software:

Our review PC has Windows XP Professional installed along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.

Features and techniques

Software Bundle:

Now let’s take a look at the supplied software bundle. Please note, we may not use any of this software in this review.

In the above screenshot we can see the software installation splash screen.

The Samsung SE-S184M is supplied with the ever popular Nero 6 OEM suite.

Nero 6
NeroVision Express
Nero Media Player
InCD 4
InCD Reader

Also included on the disc is the Samsung Live Firmware Update utility.

The Live Firmware Update utility will check for firmware updates over the Internet.

Disc Quality Scanning:

With a small edit to the Windows system registry, the Samsung SE-S184M can be used along with Nero CD-Speed for “Disc Quality Scanning”.

Disc Quality Scan at 8x scanning speed using CD-Speed.

The Samsung SE-S184M can also be used with KProbe.

8x KProbe PI/PIF scan

BookType (Bitsetting):

The Samsung SE-S184M supports bit-setting, and is capable of writing DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media with DVD-ROM book type.

In the above screenshot, Nero Burning ROM has the option set to BookType DVD-ROM.

Here is how you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Nero CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

DVD+R DL with book type DVD-ROM

Another quick test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

Writing technique

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the Samsung SE-S184M:

For these tests we used CD-Speed and wrote a full disc at the drives maximum speed.

CD Recordable:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 48x.

The Samsung SE-S184M uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 37.21x and a total writing time of 3 minutes.

For comparison we have made the following table:

CD-R Disc Writing	Supported Write Speed	Write Strategy	Start Write Speed	End Write Speed	Average Write Speed	Write Time Full 80min
NEC ND-4551A	48x	CAV	21.41x	47.92x	36.32x	3m:02s
Philips DVDR1660	48x	CAV	21.33x	48.06x	35.53x	3m:04s
Samsung SH-W162L	48x	CAV	21.88x	48.36	37.21x	2m:52s
Samsung SE-W164L	48x	CAV	21.94x	48.24x	37.30x	2m:52s
Samsung SE-S184M	48x	CAV	21.82x	48.52x	37.21x	3m:00s

As we can see, the Samsung SE-S184M was about average compared to our other drives when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of 32x.

The Samsung SE-S184M uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 28.44x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 27 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

CD-RW Disc Writing	Supported Write Speed	Write Strategy	Start Write Speed	End Write Speed	Average Write Speed	Write Time Full 80min
NEC ND-4551A	32x	Z-CLV 4 Zones	20.08x	32.00x	29.71x	3m:11s
Philips DVDR1660	32x	P-CAV	21.37x	32.16x	29.77x	3m:20s
Samsung SH-W162L	32x	Z-CLV 3 Zones	16.09x	32.30x	28.44x	3m:35s
Samsung SE-W164L	32x	Z-CLV 3 Zones	16.01x	32.02x	28.28x	3m:38s
Samsung SE-S184M	32x	Z-CLV 3 Zones	16.09x	32.18x	28.44x	3m:27s

As we can see, the Samsung SE-S184M was about average compared to our other drives when writing CD-RW media.

18x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 18x.

DVD+R

The Samsung SE-S184M uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 13.48x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 19 seconds.

DVD-R

The Samsung SE-S184M uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 13.49x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 18 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

16x DVDR Disc Writing	Supported Write Speed	Write Strategy	Start Write Speed	End Write Speed	Average Write Speed	Write Time Full 4.38Gb
Samsung SH-S182D	18x +R 18x -R	CAV CAV	7.54x 7.58x	18.12x 18.16x	13.21x 13.42x	5m:34s 5m:16s
Optiarc AD-7173A	18x +R 18x -R	CAV CAV	7.53x 7.53x	18.02x 18.05x	13.26x 13.29x	5m:26s 5m:27s
Plextor PX-760A	18x +R 18x -R	CAV CAV	7.23x 7.24x	18.00x 18.06x	12.41x 12.35x	5m:34s 5m:41s
Samsung SE-S184M	18x +R 18x -R	CAV CAV	7.62x 7.63x	18.24x 18.22x	13.46x 13.48x	5m:19s 5m:18s

As we can see from our table, the Samsung SE-S184M was the fastest drive when writing DVD+R media and above average when writing DVD-R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Samsung SE-S184M uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.93x and a total writing time of 9 minutes and 12 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

DVD+RW Drive	Writing Speed	Average Speed	Writing Time
Pioneer DVR-111	8x Z-CLV	7.83x	7m:26s
Plextor PX-760A	8x P-CAV	7.87x	7m:15s
Samsung SE-S184M	8x Z-CLV	6.96x	9m:12s

The Samsung SE-S184M was fairly slow at writing our test DVD+RW media.

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6x.

The Samsung SE-S184M uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 6X. This gives an average speed of 5.67x and a total writing time of 10 minutes and 44 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

DVD-RW Drive	Writing Speed	Average Speed	Writing Time
Pioneer DVR-111	6x CLV	6.01x	9m:56s
Plextor PX-760A	6x CLV	6.03x	10m:00s
Samsung SE-S184M	6x Z-CLV	5.67x	10m:44s

The Samsung SE-S184M was once again the slowest drive when writing DVD-RW media.

8x DVD+R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Samsung SE-S184M uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.38x and a total writing time of 19 minutes and 06 seconds.

8x DVD-R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of 8x.

(insert burn)

For comparison we have made the following table:

DVD DL Drive	Size	Writing Speed	Writing Time	Book Type
Plextor PX-755A	8152MB	DVD+R DL 10x DVD-R DL 4x	14m:14s 21m:14s	DVD-ROM DVD-R
Pioneer DVR-111	8152MB	DVD+R DL 8x DVD-R DL 8x	17m:03s 16m:57s	DVD-ROM DVD-R
Plextor PX-760A	8152MB	DVD+R DL 10x DVD-R DL 6x	13m:55s 18m:33s	DVD-ROM DVD-R
Samsung SE-S184M	8152MB	DVD+R DL 8x DVD-R DL 8x	19m:06s	DVD-ROM DVD-R

The Samsung was the slowest drive when writing DVD+R DL media.

12x DVD-RAM writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M, it should be able to write DVD-RAM at a maximum speed of 12x.

The Samsung SE-S184M uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 12X. This gives an average speed of 10.11x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 42 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

DVD-RAM Drive	Writing Speed	Average Speed	Writing Time
Pioneer DVR-111	5x CLV	4.83x	11m:30s
Plextor PX-750A	5x CLV	4.98x	11m:08s
Samsung SE-S184M	12x P-CAV	10.11x	5m:42s

The Samsung with its 12x DVD-RAM writing method is easily the fastest drive.

Let’s head on to the next page where we will check reading performance….

For these tests we will use Nero CD/DVD-Speed to read various CD and DVD’s, including audio discs and DVD-media. As already mentioned in the introduction, this drive supports:

DVD-ROM 16x
CD-ROM 48x

Pressed discs:

For this test we used a pressed CD-ROM disc containing the Roxio Media Creator 7.5 install CD that is close to 75 minutes in length. Below you will see the produced result:

The Samsung SE-S184M reached 48.08x read speed. Let’s compare it with some other drives below.

Pressed Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
NEC ND-4550A	34.75x	19.87x	45.99x	128ms	136ms	216ms
NEC ND-4551A	34.71x	20.01x	45.97x	135ms	145ms	222ms
Philips DVDR1660	35.70x	20.13x	47.29x	106ms	124ms	176ms
Samsung SH-W162L	35.75x	17.35x	47.38x	95ms	95ms	169ms
Samsung SH-S182D	35.58x	19.75x	47.10x	99ms	95ms	169ms
Samsung SE-S184M	36.25x	17.36x	48.08x	109ms	115ms	187ms

The Samsung SE-S184M proved to be fast at reading our test CD-ROM. Access and seek times were also good.

CD Recordable discs:

For this test we made a copy of the original Roxio Media Creator 7.5 install CD. The disc we used was a Ricoh 52X certified CD-R disc manufactured by Moser Baer India.

The Samsung SE-S184M reached 40.73x read speed. Let’s compare it with some other drives below.

CD-R Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
NEC ND-4550A	35.60x	20.74x	47.01x	134ms	136ms	210ms
NEC ND-4551A	35.53x	20.67x	46.77x	187ms	146ms	218ms
Philips DVDR1660	36.54x	20.94x	48.27x	104ms	113ms	169ms
Samsung SH-W162L	30.82x	16.85x	40.66x	88ms	90ms	157ms
Samsung SH-S182D	30.65x	17.28x	40.52x	92ms	90ms	162ms
Samsung SE-S184M	30.84x	16.51x	40.73x	105ms	108ms	178ms

The Samsung SE-S184M performed averagely with our CD-R test disc.

CD Re-writable discs:

Again, we made a copy of the original Roxio Media Creator 7.5 install CD; this time we used a Verbatim Ultra Speed (32X) CD-RW disc made by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation.

The Samsung SE-S184M reached 41.15x read speed. Let’s compare it with some other drives below.

CD-RW Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
NEC ND-4550A	30.66x	17.92x	40.12x	134ms	141ms	214ms
NEC ND-4551A	30.63x	17.94x	40.08x	171ms	166ms	317ms
Philips DVDR1660	30.75x	17.67x	40.55x	106ms	115ms	170ms
Samsung SH-W162L	30.84x	17.52x	40.68x	87ms	90ms	159ms
Samsung SH-S182D	30.65x	16.43x	40.44x	91ms	90ms	163ms
Samsung SE-S184M	31.17x	16.75x	41.15x	102ms	107ms	176ms

The Samsung SE-S184M proved to be the fastest drive when reading CD-RW media.

100 minute CD-R:

The Samsung SE-S184M reached 44.97x when reading our test 100 minute CD-R

Audio – Digital Audio Extraction:

To test the digital audio extraction performance of the Samsung SE-S184M, again we used Nero CD/DVD-Speed to measure the transfer rate. The audio disc we used is slightly larger than the disc used for the other tests, to be exact it’s nearly 79 minutes in length (78:53:31).

The Samsung SE-S184M reached 41.77x when reading our test audio disc. Let’s compare it with some drives below.

Audio Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
NEC ND-4550A	31.33x	17.97x	40.11x	123ms	138ms	220ms
NEC ND-4551A	31.30x	17.89x	40.13x	122ms	142ms	222ms
Philips DVDR1660	37.42x	20.09x	49.65x	107ms	125ms	173ms
Samsung SH-W162L	31.55x	17.57x	41.85x	86ms	101ms	172ms
Samsung SH-S182D	31.39x	17.68x	41.61x	88ms	104ms	181ms
Samsung SE-S184M	31.46x	17.67x	41.77x	111ms	128ms	192ms

The Samsung SE-S184M performed about average when reading our audio test CD.

For this test we used EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to test the drives Audio extraction performance. As we can see from the screenshot below, the drive supports accurate stream and C2 error info and doesn’t support caching.

Below is the results produced by EAC:

Burst mode.

Secure mode.

The Samsung SE-S184M performed well in burst mode but was slower in secure mode.

Advanced audio – DAE quality test:

Before we move on to testing DVD read speeds, we will take a last audio test, and this time we used the “Advanced DAE Quality Test” feature in CD-Speed. For this test we used a CD-R media from RICOH (Thanks to RICOH Europe (BV) for sending us this media).

The Samsung SE-S184M performed very well in our DAE test. The extraction quality was excellent.

DVD reading performance:

Again, we will use Nero CD-Speed to measure the reading performance, this time for various types of DVD discs. The drive should read pressed single layer DVD-discs at 16X.

Pressed DVD Video:

For our DVD reading performance tests we are going to start with a single and Double Layered DVD video discs. While only 1X speed is required to watch DVD movies, it’s useful to be able to read the discs at higher speeds if you’re going to extract (rip) the content of the disc to your hard drive.

DVD Video (single layer)

DVD Video (double layer OPT)

DVD Video (double layer PTP)

The Samsung SE-S184M is not riplocked and read our single layer disc at 16x and our double layer test discs at 8x

DVD Video	Average Read Speed (SL)	Start Read Speed (SL)	End Read Speed (SL)	Average Read Speed (DL)	Start Read Speed (DL)	End Read Speed (DL)
NEC ND-4550A	11.84x	6.57x	15.82x	8.90x	4.95x	11.83x
NEC ND-4551A	11.83x	6.56x	15.77x	8.89x	4.94x	11.82x
Philips DVDR1660	12.00x	6.64x	15.99x	9.05x	5.00x	12.04x
Samsung SH-W162L	12.12x	6.78x	16.16x	6.44x	3.60x	8.57x
Samsung SH-S182D	12.06x	6.66x	16.07x	6.41x	3.58x	8.52x
Samsung SE-S184M	12.22x	6.75x	16.29x	6.38x	3.61x	8.29x

The Samsung SE-S184M performed well in our single layer test, but rather slowly in our double layer read tests.

DVD – DVD+R/RW:

For this test we used a Verbatim 16X DVD+R and a RICOH 8X DVD+RW with about 4.4Gb of data. Below are the results:

DVD+R

DVD+RW

DVD+R DVD+RW	Average Read Speed (+R)	Start Read Speed (+R)	End Read Speed (+R)	Average Read Speed (+RW)	Start Read Speed (+RW)	End Read Speed (+RW)
NEC ND-4550A	11.93x	6.53x	15.95x	9.79x	5.40x	13.08x
NEC ND-4551A	11.95x	6.59x	15.98x	9.79x	5.37x	13.08x
Philips DVDR1660	9.38x	5.13x	12.53x	9.38x	5.13x	12.54x
Samsung SH-W162L	9.15x	5.03x	12.22x	6.24x	3.45x	8.34x
Samsung SH-S182D	9.09x	5.02x	12.16x	6.21x	3.43x	8.29x
Samsung SE-S184M	9.12x	5.00x	12.06x	6.23x	3.43x	8.33x

The Samsung SE-S184M performed below average when reading our test DVD+R/RW test discs. Now let’s see how it will perform with DVD-R/RW.

DVD – DVD-R/RW:

For this test we used a Verbatim 16X DVD-R disc and a Verbatim 6X DVD-RW disc filled with about 4.4Gb of data. Our test results are found below:

DVD-R

DVD-RW

There are hardly any differences in the speed, compared to reading the DVD+R/RW discs.

DVD-R DVD-RW	Average Read Speed (-R)	Start Read Speed (-R)	End Read Speed (-R)	Average Read Speed (-RW)	Start Read Speed (-RW)	End Read Speed (-RW)
NEC ND-4550A	11.97x	6.58x	16.01x	9.78x	5.37x	13.07x
NEC ND-4551A	11.98x	6.56x	15.98x	9.78x	5.37x	13.07x
Philips DVDR1660	9.37x	5.13x	12.53x	9.38x	5.13x	12.53x
Samsung SH-W162L	9.18x	5.08x	12.26x	6.24x	3.44x	8.34x
Samsung SH-S182D	9.12x	5.05x	12.19x	6.22x	3.43x	8.31x
Samsung SE-S184M	9.14x	5.03x	21.21x	6.24x	3.44x	8.34x

Once again the Samsung SE-S184M performed below average when reading our DVD-R/RW test discs.

DVD±R DL discs:

DVD+R DL:

The Samsung SE-S184M read our DVD+R DL test disc at 8x reading speed.

DVD-R DL:

The Samsung SE-S184M read our DVD-R DL test disc at 8x reading speed.

DVD-RAM:

The Samsung SE-S184M read our DVD-RAM disc at 12x using a P-CAV reading method.

Summary:

The Samsung SE-S184M proved to be a reliable reader and had no problems reading all our test discs. The Samsung SE-S184M however was not the fastest reader we have reviewed.

Now let’s head over to the next page where we will test CD-R/RW writing performance……

The specifications of the Samsung SE-S184M state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x and CD-RW at 32x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

For our data writing tests, we simply set up a new compilation of 703Mb using Nero Burning ROM software. Writing method used is DAO (Disc At Once), and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc with “finalize disc” enabled. The screenshot below shows how long it takes to write a disc at the highest speed. (48x)

The Samsung SE-S184M took 3 minutes and 8 seconds to write the disc at 48x. Let us see how this compares to other drives in the table below:

Nero Burning Rom CD-R	Write Speed	Total Time
Lite-On SHW-16H5S	48x	3m:20s
Plextor PX-750A	40x	3m:16s
Plextor PX-755A	48x	2m:43s
Pioneer DVR-111	40x	3m:28x
Plextor PX-760A	48x	2m:54s
Samsung SE-S184M	48x	3m:08s

The Samsung SE-S184M was about average when writing our test CD-R media.

Write quality:

We will test CD-R discs from many different CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed, we used the “create data CD” function in Nero CD-Speed. The discs were written at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test, we used K-Probe 2 which is a tool developed by a Lite-On employee. It runs under Windows and works with drives made by Lite-On. Also note that different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the discs. We used a Lite-On SOHR-5238S drive with firmware 4S09 and scanned the discs at 48X speed.

A written CD-R disc will always have some C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the drive’s error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drive’s error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best discs, or at least below 10.0 averages for good quality discs. After C2 errors, there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

Below are the obtained results:

Brand:	Unbranded Printable. Thanks to SVP UK for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	97m24s01f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.72 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	3m:00s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.07
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

An excellent result to start our CD-R quality tests, (highly recommended).

Brand:	Verbatim Super AZ0+Crystal DL – Thanks to Verbatim UK for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	97m34s23f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 3: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	3m:03s
C1 Average/Sec:	1.12
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

The write quality on the Verbatim 52x media is very good, (Highly recommended).

Brand:	RICOH – Thanks to RICOH Europe (BV) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Moser Baer India Limited
Code:	97m17s06f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	1x-52x
Write Speed:	40x (P-CAV)
Write Time:	3m:11s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.87
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Our RICOH media manufactured by Moser Baer India has burned with excellent quality, (highly recommended).

Brand:	BenQ – Thanks to Daxon (Taiwan) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Daxon
Code:	97m22s67f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	3m:04s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.42
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Once again we have an excellent result, (highly recommended).

Brand:	HP – Thanks to Medea International (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics
Code:	97m26s66f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.71 (703 MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	3m:03s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.92
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

The HP media manufactured by CMC Magnetics has burned with excellent quality, (highly recommended).

Brand:	Infiniti Printable – Thanks to Medea International (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	SKC
Code:	97m26s26f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.09 (703 MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	3m:02s
C1 Average/Sec:	1.16
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Another excellent result, (highly recommended).

Brand:	Verbatim Super AZO – Thanks to Verbatim UK for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	97m34s23f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 3: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	3m:01s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.90
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

And another excellent result, (highly recommended).

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

Brand:	Verbatim Ultra speed 32x – Thanks to Verbatim UK for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	97m34s25f
Disc Type:	Ultra Speed CD-RW 32x
Recording Layer:	Phase Change
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	32x
Write Speed:	32x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	3m:27s
C1 Average/Sec:	259.20
C2 Average/Sec:	0.18

CI errors are high on our Verbatim 32x ultra speed CD-RW disc. The disc also has C2 errors, a poor result.

Brand:	Daxon Ultra Speed – Thanks to Daxon (Taiwan) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Daxon
Code:	97m22s60f
Disc Type:	Ultra Speed CD-RW 24x
Recording Layer:	Phase Change
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	24x
Write Speed:	24x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	4m:03s
C1 Average/Sec:	135.00
C2 Average/Sec:	0.67

We attempted to scan this disc with our Lite-On CD-RW drive and KProbe. The scan failed at 12% and the disc was un-readable on any drive. A poor result.

Summary:

CD-R writing quality and media compatibility is excellent with the Samsung SE-S184M. However, CD-RW write quality needs improving.

Now let’s head on to the next page where we will test DVD recordable performance….

The specifications of this drive tell us that it should write DVD±R at 18x and DVD+RW/-RW at 8x/6x. In this part, we will measure the writing times for various types of DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs. We will also focus on write quality and media compatibility.

DVD-Writing performance:

In this test we will measure the time for writing to DVD±R discs. We used Nero Burning Rom to burn an ISO compilation containing 4483Mb of data. We used the Disc-At-Once write method.

DVD+R

DVD-R

Let’s compare with some other drives.

Write DVD data discs	DVD+R	DVD-R
Plextor PS-760A	5m:40s (18x speed)	5m:46s (18x speed)
Samsung SH-S182D	5m:31s (18x speed)	5m:21s (18x speed)
Samsung SE-S184M	5m:32s (18x speed)	5mm:23s (18x speed)

We can see the Samsung SE-S184M has performed well, but let’s see how good the writing quality is.

Write quality:

You should first notice that this is not a scientific and professional way to test the discs. But according to our testing done in recent months, we would conclude that there is a clear link between the quality reported when scanning the disc and the playability of the disc in different devices. Also notice that different drives report different amounts of errors. K-Probe was designed to work with Lite-On DVD-Writers, so we recommend using a DVD-Writer from Lite-On. In this test we use a Lite-On SHM-165P6S DVD-Writer, as already said; remember that scans done with a Lite-On DVD-ROM or Lite-On combo drive can’t be compared with the results obtained with a Lite-On DVD-Writer. Also remember that different PI/PO ECC sum settings along with different reading speeds in K-Probe will affect the result, we use these settings; PI (Parity Inner) set to summarize 8 ECC blocks, PIF (Parity Inner Failures) set to summarize 1 ECC block, reading speed: 4X CLV (Constant Linear Velocity). Setting the PI sum to 8 and the PIF sum to 1 will give a result that we may compare to the standards for DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW.

But what is a good scan? That is a discussion that we don’t think will end soon, as different drives report different amount of errors, some players are more picky about media than others, and so on. But as a comparison we present you with a scan from two pressed DVD discs:

This scan shows the results from a pressed DVD-Video disc (GoldenEye).

This scan shows the result from a pressed DVD-Video disk (The Green Mile). Notice the error jump when shifting to the second layer (the error level actually drops from the end of the first layer to the beginning of the second layer).

If you read below, you will see that both the pressed DVD-discs are well within the standards.

Download the ECMA 267 Standard for DVD-ROM, the ECMA 337 Standard for DVD+R/RW and the ECMA 338 Standard for DVD-R/RW at http://www.ecma-international.org if you want to look at the standards for yourself. Here is some data from the ECMA standards (same for DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW):

Random errors:

A row of an ECC Block that has at least 1 byte in error constitutes a PI error. In any 8
consecutive ECC Blocks the total number of PI errors before correction shall not exceed 280.

Here we see that a PI error is defined as a row in an ECC block having 1 byte or more containing errors and that the sum of PI errors in 8 ECC blocks after each other should not exceed 280 PI errors.

But what is a row and what is an ECC block? Again we refer to the ECMA standards. We do not copy and paste everything, but if you’re interested, look in the ECMA standards. A row is 182 bytes long where the last 10 bytes contain PI (Parity Inner) information. An ECC block is 208 rows long where the last 16 rows contain the PO (Parity Outer) information. This gives us a maximum possible PI error amount of 208 errors per block and for 8 blocks after each other this sum is of course 8 times higher, giving a maximum possible amount of 1664 PI-8 errors. In practical use, a disc with 1664 PI-8 errors is unreadable.

According to our tests the specified max PI-8 sum of 280 for good discs seems to be a good guideline, as some readers have problems reading discs when the PI-8 errors is over 300 and most players starts to have problems when the PI-8 error level reaches 600 or more.

But what are the PIF errors that K-Probe reports? They are Parity Inner Failures, meaning errors left after PI correction. Only the ECMA 337 standard describes the Parity Inner Failures. So how is a Parity Inner Failure defined? Here is what the ECMA 337 states:

“If a row of an ECC Block as defined in 13.3 contains more than 5 erroneous bytes, the row is said to be “PI-un-correctable”.”

In theory, an ECC block may in the worst-case have 208 PIF since every ECC block is 208 rows long. But the ECMA 337 standard goes further and specifies the max amount of accepted PI Failures (un-correctable errors) allowed on a good disc:

“In any ECC Block the number of PI-un-correctable rows should not exceed 4.”

This means that when the PIF sum is set to 1, the maximum error value should not exceed 4. The theoretical maximum value for PIF is 208 errors.

But what makes a disc unreadable? A POF (Parity Outer Failure) error will make the disc unreadable, but K-Probe does not display the POF’s.

Notice that there are other aspects such as disc reflectivity, jitter, tracking errors and so on that also will affect the readability of a DVD disc – but for this we do not have measuring equipment available.

Also, another note is that we have scanned the discs at 4X CLV speed, by lowering the speed to 2X(DVD-R/RW)/2.4X(DVD+R/RW) or 1X the amount of reported errors may drop on some discs. We scanned at 4X CLV due to lower speeds taking too much time.

To see if there is a connection between the reported amount of errors and readability of the discs we also include the reading curve from a Optiarc AD-7173A DVD-Writer. The reason why we have changed the reader is that some companies disliked that we used a modified firmware to obtain 16x reading speed. So to please them, we are now using a drive that reads DVD+R/-R media at 16x as default. A small speed reduction near the end is still accepted on good discs, but serious reading problems or reading failures is a bad sign.

Easier explanation on how to read the test results.

Maybe this got too technical, and you are wondering what to look for in KProbe reports?

Use this as a guideline for good discs:

PI (Parity Inner): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 280 PI-8 errors, do not worry too much about high single spikes that exceed 280.
PIF (Parity Inner Failures): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 4 PIF-1 errors, do not worry too much about high single spikes that exceed 4.

And as always; lower is better

And look at the reading curve; if it looks clean with no dips it should be good, a small slowdown near the end is accepted.

DVD+R media compatibility and write quality:

In these tests we will be using a Lite-On LH-18A1P with firmware GL03 along with K-Probe to measure the disc quality. We will also be using the Optiarc AD-7173A with firmware 1.01 along with CD-Speed for our read-back tests.

Brand:	BenQ – Thanks to Daxon for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Daxon Inc.
Code:	DAXON AZ3
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:02s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.35
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

The result is very good.

Brand:	TDK
Manufacturer:	TDK Corporation
Code:	TDK003
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:02s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.96
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.05

Once again we have a very good result.

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	MCC 004
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	18x (CAV)
Write Time:	5m:19s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.68
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

Considering this disc was written faster than its rated speed, the result is excellent.

Brand:	Datawrite – Thanks to SVP (UK) for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics Corporation
Code:	CMC MAG M01
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:02s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	10.52
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.12

PI and PIF errors are rising towards the end of the disc and PIF errors are slightly out of spec. Our read-back curve shows some problems near the end of the disc. The result could be better.

Brand:	Plextor – Thanks to Plextor for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	YUDEN000T03
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	18x (CAV)
Write Time:	5m:20s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.17
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

The result is excellent considering this disc was burned faster than its rated speed.

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to SVP UK for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	YUDEN000T02
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x (P-CAV)
Write Time:	8m:25s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.77
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

No surprises here, an excellent result from the Verbatim 8x media manufactured by Taiyo Yuden.

Brand:	TDK – Thanks to SVP (UK) for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Moser Baer India
Code:	MBIPG101R04
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x (P-CAV)
Write Time:	8m:26s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.58
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03

The result is excellent.

Brand:	Pleomax – Thanks to Pleomax (NL) for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	OPTODISC
Code:	OPTODISC R16
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:03s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.11
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03

The result is very good.

Brand:	Sony
Manufacturer:	Sony
Code:	SONY D21
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:02s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.15
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.09

Once again we have another very good result.

DVD+RW media compatibility and write quality:

We used the same test procedures as in our DVD+R tests.

Below are our obtained results.

Brand:	Traxdata – Thanks to Conrexx Europe for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	RITEK
Code:	RITEK 008
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	9m:12s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	27.32
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.06

The result is good.

Brand:	Ricoh – Thanks to Ricoh Europe for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	RICOH Company Limited
Code:	RICOH JPNW21
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	8m:41s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	8.15
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.07

The result is very good.

Summary:

The Samsung SE-S184M writes DVD+R/RW with excellent/very good quality and media compatibility is very good.

Now let’s look at DVD-R/RW performance and quality on the next page…..

DVD-R media compatibility and write quality:

Brand:	Taiyo Yuden unbranded – Thanks to SVP (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	TYG03
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	18x (CAV)
Write Time:	5m:18s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	19.16
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

PI errors are slightly high at the start of the disc but well within specification. The result is good.

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for providing this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MCC 03RG20
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	18x (CAV)
Write Time:	5m:19s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	9.81
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.05

Considering this disc was burned faster than its rated speed, the result is good.

Brand:	Ricoh – Thanks to Ricoh Europe for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics
Code:	CMC MAG AM3
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:04s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	34.35
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.07

PI errors are quite high throughout the disc but within specification, PIF errors are well under control, the result is ok.

Brand:	TDK
Manufacturer:	TDK
Code:	TTH02
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:03s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	5.57
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.04

PI errors are generally low but out of specification at the end of the disc, the read-back test is perfect. The result is ok.

Brand:	Sony
Manufacturer:	Sony Corporation
Code:	SONY16D1
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:02s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	5.31
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.18

PI errors are rising at the end of the disc, but the result is ok.

Brand:	BenQ – Thanks to Daxon (Taiwan) for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Daxon Inc.
Code:	DAXON 016S
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:03s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	5.33
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.07

The result is very good.

Brand:	Traxdata – Thanks to Conrexx for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	RITEK
Code:	RITEK F1
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:01s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	13.65
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.22

The result is ok.

Brand:	Pleomax – Thanks to Pleomax (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Opto Disc
Code:	OPTODISCR016
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:02s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.09
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

The result is excellent.

Brand:	Taiyo Yuden unbranded – Thanks to SVP (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	TYG02
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x (P-CAV)
Write Time:	8m:19s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	3.39
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

Once again the result is excellent.

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MCC02RG20
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x (P-CAV)
Write Time:	8m:22s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.90
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.08

The result is good.

DVD-RW media compatibility and write quality:

For this test we used the same testing procedures as in our DVD-R tests.

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MKM01RW6X01
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	6x
Write Speed:	6x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	10m:44s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	6.09
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

The result is very good.

Summary:

The Samsung SE-S184M has written our DVD-R media with excellent/very quality in most cases. The Samsung SE-S184M also burned some difficult to handle media with good quality. DVD-RW write quality is also very good with our tested disc. Once again media compatibility is also very good, with all our tested media burning at, or above its rated speed.

Let’s head on to the next page where we will test DVD R DL writing performance and quality……

DVD+R/-R Double Layer writing performance and quality:

The Samsung SE-S184M supports the DVD+R DL/-R DL standard for writing Double Layer/Dual Layer discs with a size around 8.5 GB at a writing speed of 8x.

For these tests we pre-authored several video clips into an image file and burned the resulting image in Nero Burning Rom. We then used the Lite-On LH-18A1P along with KProbe to test the discs quality; we then finally ran a read-back test on our Optiarc AD-7173A using Nero CD-Speed.

DVD+R DL:

Brand:	RICOH – Thanks to RICOH Europe for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	RICOH
Code:	JPND01
Disc Type:	DVD+R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	19m:08s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.90
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec :	0.18
BookType	DVD-ROM

The Samsung burned our 8x RICOH media in 19 minutes and 8 seconds. Writing quality is very good.

Brand:	Infiniti – Thanks to Medea International (UK) for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics
Code:	CMC MAG D01
Disc Type:	DVD+R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	2.4x
Write Speed:	2.4x
Write Time:	43m:39s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.90
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec :	0.18
BookType	DVD-ROM

The Samsung SE-S184M burned our 2.4x rated Infiniti media in 43 minutes and 39 seconds. Writing quality is ok but there is a little problem at the layer bread.

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM 001
Disc Type:	DVD+R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	2.4x
Write Speed:	2.4x
Write Time:	43m:36s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	14.99
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.16
BookType	DVD-ROM

The Samsung SE-S184M burned our 2.4x Verbatim media in 43 minutes and 36 seconds. The result is good.

DVD-R DL:

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM 03RD30
Disc Type:	DVD-R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	18m:45s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	5.89
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02
BookType	DVD-R

The Samsung SE-S184M burned our Verbatim 8x media in 18 minutes and 45 seconds, with very good writing quality.

Brand:	Verbatim – Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM 01RD30
Disc Type:	DVD-R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	27m:07s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	7.63
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03
BookType	DVD-R

The Samsung SE-S184M burned our Verbatim 4x test media in 27 minutes and 7 seconds, the writing quality is very good.

Standalone DVD-Player compatibility:

We only have 3 standalone DVD-Players available and 1 standalone DVD-RAM DVD-R recorder to test the DVD+R DL medias (Book Type: DVD-ROM) and the DVD-R DL media (Book Type: DVD-R):

Panasonic DVD-RV32
Panasonic SA-HT520
Proline DVDP350
Panasonic DMR-E50 recorder

Compatibility results:

All our DVD Standalone devices played the DVD+R DL media burned by the Samsung SE-S184M without any problems.

Only one DVD Standalone device would play the Samsung SE-S184M burned DVD-R DL media without any problems.

We would like to mention, that the compatibility issue with standalone DVD Players/Recorders and the DVD-R DL media format is caused by incompatibilities with the standalone devices used in this review, and not the Samsung SE-S184M or media format used.

Summary:

The Samsung SE-S184M burned our test DVD DL media with very/good quality and once again media compatibility was very good.

Let’s head onto the next page where we will take a look at DVD-RAM performance….

The Samsung SE-S184M is a so-called Multi drive, meaning it also supports the DVD-RAM format.

This drive is one of few drives that also supports the DVD-RAM format, lets us look at the recording side of the disc, and as you can see it has differences from the other DVD+R/W/R9 DL and DVD-R/W discs.

We can see a very fascinating pattern of darker spots. These tick marks are "address information" ("Pre-mastered Pit Header Field") which are embedded onto the disc. This is header information in front of data sector area, and is the same format as HDD and MO.

A DVD-RAM’s disc can be formatted in the following formats:

FAT32
UDF 1.02
UDF 1.50
UDF 2.00
UDF 2.01
UDF 2.50

By formatting a DVD-RAM disc with FAT32 it will act like a removable hard drive and all writing will be done as “background processes”. Meaning you do not have to wait for it to finish, you can start or work with other applications while the DVD-RAM is working without noticing any “hangs” or CPU slowdowns.

DVD-RAM has error correction, but also has error replacement to spare sectors as a "defect management" function. This gives higher reliability than other DVD format.

Another advantage with DVD-RAM is that the discs can be formatted/erased/written at over 100.000 times before it will/can cause/report any errors. Let’s try to read back the 2 discs that we wrote:

Lets us take a look at the media we are going to use in these tests.

Maxell 12x rated DVD-RAM media

As we can see, the Samsung SE-S184M wrote our 12x DVD-RAM media at its maximum rated speed of 12x in 5 minutes and 42 seconds.

Now let’s see if the Samsung SE-S184M can read our test disc.

The Samsung SE-S184M had no problems in reading our test disc at 12x.

We decided to test the disc for quality using the Samsung SE-S184M and CD-Speed’s Disc Quality scanning option. Below is the result.

We should not be concerned about the error levels in our scan as DVD-RAM has built in error management.

Maxell 5x rated DVD-RAM media

As we can see, the Samsung SE-S184M wrote our 5x DVD-RAM media at its maximum rated speed of 5x in 11 minutes and 7 seconds.

Now let’s see if the Samsung SE-S184M can read our test disc.

The Samsung SE-S184M had no problems in reading our test disc at 5x.

We decided to test the disc for quality using the Samsung SE-S184M and CD-Speed’s Disc Quality scanning option. Below is the result.

We should not be concerned about the error levels in our scan as DVD-RAM has built in error management.

Summary:

The Samsung SE-S184M proved reliable at both reading and writing our test DVD-RAM media. When using 12x media the drive completed a full disc in 5 minutes and 42 seconds, which should be fast enough for every day backups.

Now let’s head to the next page where we will look at LightScribe performance…..

On January 4, 2004, HP announced an innovative new technology to address the problem of labelling CD’s and DVD’s. LightScribe technology allows consumers to create silk-screen quality labels on their CDs or DVDs by burning text and graphics directly onto a disc, eliminating the need for adhesive labels.

But, before we continue - Let us first take a look at some information found at the LightScribe site:

ABOUT LIGHTSCRIBE

CREATE SILKSCREEN-QUALITY LABELS FOR ALL YOUR CDS AND DVDS, RIGHT FROM YOUR COMPUTER.

Until now there hasn't been much choice when it comes to creating labels for your CDs and DVDs. Messy markers or sticky adhesive labels were pretty much the only affordable option. But imagine creating professional-looking labels using the same laser that burns your data-right inside your CD/DVD drive! Well, now it's easy with LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling technology.

LABEL-MAKING REDEFINED.

LightScribe technology is an integrated system that combines the CD or DVD drive of your LightScribe-enabled computer with specially coated discs and enhanced disc-burning software to produce precise, laser-etched labels. You can design and produce labels to express your creativity and personality-the sky's the limit!

With LightScribe, the disc is the label. This amazing technology is the no-hassle way to create elegant labels for all your CDs and DVDs. Simply burn your music mix, digital-video/photo archives, or business application. Then flip the disc and burn your own unique label.

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling technology is now available in PCs, external USB optical DVD writers, labeling software, and a variety of brand name discs. Remember, the LightScribe logo indicates a LightScribe-enabled product, so be sure to look for it at your favorite retail locations. Also check out the Looking for LightScribe page for a list of companies that make LightScribe-enabled products.

HOW IT WORKS

RADICAL REVOLUTION IN DISC LABELING.

Once you've burned your first LightScribe label and experienced the amazing result, you'll never want to use a permanent marker or sticky label again. LightScribe makes it easy. It truly is a revolution in disc labelling.

JUST HOW DOES IT WORK?

How can you burn a label onto your disc right from your computer? Suppose you have just created a music CD of your favourite songs. Now you want to make a label that contains the song titles, artists' names, and some personal information and design elements to make it special.

Burn your tracks onto the data side of the disc. Flip the disc over to the label side and put it back in the drive. Burn your label by opening your favourite LightScribe-enabled label-making software and going to the CD template work area. Now you do all of your creative design work-imported pictures, copy, and artwork. When you are satisfied with what you have done, click "print." It really is that simple! No ink, no messy markers, no clumpy adhesive labels, just an amazingly beautiful label right before your eyes.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE?

Your LightScribe-enabled CD/DVD disc drive contains a special laser that pumps light energy into a thin dye coating on the label side of the disc. The light from the laser causes a chemical change in the dye coating that shows up as a visible point on the disc. With laser precision, LightScribe delivers closely controlled light energy to multiple points on the disc as it spins in the drive. The result is a high-resolution reproduction of the artwork, text, or photos you composed in the software application. Seeing is believing!

In this review we decided to use SureThing Deluxe labeller instead of the supplied label making module in Nero.

LightScribe Media:

The surface of the LightScribe media is gold-brown, also referred to as sepia coloured. More recently different colours of LightScribe media has been introduced and we will be testing this coloured media in this section of the review.

If we take a closer look at the inner ring of the LightScribe media, we can see a bar code indexing system. This is what the drive’s laser uses to recognize the LightScribe surface, but also for the indexing (for later re-burns).

Designing and burning with SureThing Labeller:

The SureThing application is very easy to work with and we created a layout here to test out the LightScribe feature. After we were satisfied with the layout we pressed Print Label (LightScribe). For this test we used a Verbatim DVD+R media. (thanks to Verbatim UK for providing this sample).

In the print option dialog we also find a Diagnostic button and we clicked it of course.

We closed the LightScribe Diagnostics windows and selected “Best quality” and OK to print the label in the Print Dialog windows.

The program gave us a notice “Please ensure that you have a LightScribe disc inserted in the drive with the label side down”. (As you can see you can choose – Don’t show me this message in the future.” We went on with OK to print the label.

Now let’s look at the result.

Very nice indeed, even if we zoom in on the disc, the quality and contrast is very good.

Now let’s take a look at some results with coloured LightScribe CD-R media.

Thanks to Philips for sending these samples

First we tried the green coloured media; to the naked eye the result is very good indeed.

Lastly we tried the red coloured media; once again the result is very good indeed.

Summary:

The LightScribe feature on the Samsung SE-S184M worked extremely well. The introduction of the coloured LightScribe media further enhancing LightScribe’s appeal.

To round of this review, we will run some advanced tests on the Samsung SE-S184M on the next page….

To round off this review, we will run some advanced tests on the Samsung SE-S184M. These tests are: “Sheep Test”, and some special disc tests.

For this test, we will use the Sheep tests made by Alexander Noé. Why is it called sheep test? That’s because the logo of the first 1 to 1 copy program called CloneCD is a sheep. When looking at supported writers, you will notice that the feature list has sheep to indicate if a feature is supported or not. In this case we are interested in the writer’s ability to backup/write weak sectors. Also called: “Correct EFM encoding of regular bit-patterns”.

No sheep: Can’t backup any safedisc 2 versions without the help of software tricks
1 Sheep: Can backup safedisc 2 up to version 2.4x without software tricks
2 Sheep: Can backup safedisc 2, including version 2.5x
3 Sheep: Can write all possible weak sectors, few if any writers could do this.

One of our forum moderators Womble; has written a guide concerning the “Sheep Test” that can be and be found here.

In the screenshot below taken from CloneCD, we see the Samsung SE-S184M supports everything.

The Samsung SE-S184M supports DAO-RAW96 recording mode, which basically means, it can write uncorrected data and sub-channel data.

As we can see from the table the Samsung SE-S184M is a “Two Sheep Burner”, in addition it was also able to complete our Safedisc 2.90 test.

Overburning:

900MB (99 minute) over-burn test:

For this test we used an Infiniti Professional Compax 99min/900mb CD-R. (Thanks to Medea International (UK) for providing the disc).

From the screenshot above, it was clear the Samsung SE-S184M would be able to write the 99 minute media at its full length. We then set up a test over-burn with Nero CD-Speed. We set the test at 99:29.25 to be exact and then attempted to write a test disc.

As we can see from the above screenshot, the Samsung SE-S184M created our test disc. Now it was time to see if the drive could read the disc.

As we can see from the above screenshot, the Samsung SE-S184M successfully read the disc.

DVD+R over-burn test:

We first tried to burn a DVD+R media.

As we can see from the above screenshot, the Samsung SE-S184M does not support overburning on this media type.

DVD-R over-burn test:

We will now try a DVD-R media.

Again the Samsung SE-S184M did not support overburning to the media type.

MINI DVD discs:

In this section we are going to test if the Samsung SE-S184M is capable of writing and reading mini DVD-RW discs with a capacity of 30 minutes/1.46 GB.

The Memorex media is made by CMC Magnetics. Thanks to Memorex Europe for sending us this media.

The Samsung SE-S184M had no problems in writing our test MINI DVD-RW disc. Now let’s find out if the drive can read the disc.

The Samsung SE-S184M read our test MINI DVD-RW media without any problems.

Video-CD disc:

For our final test we wanted to see how the Samsung SE-S184M would read a Video-CD, for this test we created a Video-CD with Nero Burning ROM 7, and used NERO CD-DVD Speed to read the disc back. Below is our result:

The Samsung SE-S184M had no problems in reading our Video-CD disc, although the read speed was locked at 16x.

This concludes our Samsung SE-S184M review. To read the conclusion, click on the link below....

Positive:

Fast USB external drive fully supporting 18x write speed.
Excellent CD-R writing quality and compatibility.
Excellent/very good DVD±R/RW writing quality and compatibility.
Good DVD±R DL writing quality and media compatibility.
Can burn selected DVD±R media faster than its rated speed.
Reads pressed DVD Video SL/DL at 16x/8x
Supports DVD-RAM read/write at 12x speed.
Supports LightScribe direct disc labelling system.
Supports BitSetting (BookType DVD-ROM) on DVD+R/RW/DL.
Supports Disc Quality Scanning with KProbe and CD-Speed.
Good software bundle.
Supports Mount Rainier.
Can read/write MINI DVD
Lead free product.

Negative:

CD-RW writing quality needs improving.
Can only read DVD±R media at 12x.
Can only read DVD±RW media at 8x.
Single LED for read/write.

Conclusion:

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points:

The Samsung SE-S184M is the fastest external drive we have tested here on CD Freaks. Being a so called multi-drive, the SE-S184M supports all of the currently popular CD/DVD formats including DVD-RAM.

The Samsung SE-S184M was able to burn all our tested CD-R media with exceptional quality and media compatibility was also very good.

DVD±R/RW writing quality was also of a very high standard, the Samsung SE-S184M coping with some difficult to handle media very well. The SE-S184M was also able to burn selected DVD±R media at faster than its rated speed, and overall burning performance with DVD±R media was very good indeed. Recording some of the fastest write times we have seen.

The Samsung SE-S184M also proved to be a good performer with DVD-RAM media, again recording some very fast write times with our tested 12x DVD-RAM media.

The Samsung SE-S184M also proved to perform well with the LightScribe direct disc labelling system, with our LightScribe test discs images looking very good indeed.

We were very impressed with the enclosure used with the Samsung SE-S184M. Not only does the enclosure look good, the performance for a USB drive was staggering, with the Samsung SE-S184M easily reaching its maximum quoted 18x write speed with DVD±R media.

The supplied software suite is also good, with a nice balance of ease of use and enough features to satisfy the end user.

The main negative points:

There are not many negative things to say about the Samsung SE-S184M. CD-RW write quality needs improving; the burn quality of our tested CD-RW Ultra speed media was poor.

We would also like to see faster DVD±R/RW reading speeds. 12x/8x reading speeds are quite slow by today’s standards.

We would also like to see different coloured LED’s being used for read/write.

To sum up, this is what we would say: “The Samsung SE-S184M is fast, has a good feature set and burns media with good quality”

By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we were unable to find a price listing for the drive. However we found the drive at getprice listed at 62.07 €. (December 2006).

You may comment on this review below or in this forum thread.

Thanks to:

	Plextor SA/NV (B) for providing the Plextor media used in this review.
	Conrexx Technology B.V./RITEK Europe – The Netherlands for providing the media used in this review.
	Daxon Technology Inc – Taiwan for providing the BenQ media used in this article.
	Medea International – United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.
	For providing the Memorex media used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world.
	Ricoh Europe – For providing the media used in this review.
	SVP Communication – The United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.
	Verbatim - United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.
	Pleomax for providing the media used in this review.
	Philips for sending the media used in this review.

Company Information

Drive Specifications

What’s inside the box

Test machine

Hardware:

System setup:

Installed software:

Features and techniques

Disc Quality Scanning:

BookType (Bitsetting):

Writing technique

CD Recordable:

CD Re-writable:

18x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

8x DVD+R DL writing speed:

8x DVD-R DL writing speed:

12x DVD-RAM writing speed:

Pressed discs:

CD Recordable discs:

CD Re-writable discs:

100 minute CD-R:

Audio – Digital Audio Extraction:

Advanced audio – DAE quality test:

DVD reading performance:

Pressed DVD Video:

DVD – DVD+R/RW:

DVD – DVD-R/RW:

DVD±R DL discs:

DVD+R DL:

DVD-R DL:

DVD-RAM:

Summary:

Writing Data CD-R discs:

Write quality:

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

Summary:

DVD-Writing performance:

Write quality:

Random errors:

Easier explanation on how to read the test results.

DVD+R media compatibility and write quality:

DVD+RW media compatibility and write quality:

Summary:

DVD-R media compatibility and write quality:

DVD-RW media compatibility and write quality:

Summary:

DVD+R/-R Double Layer writing performance and quality:

DVD+R DL:

DVD-R DL:

Standalone DVD-Player compatibility:

Compatibility results:

Summary:

Summary:

ABOUT LIGHTSCRIBE

HOW IT WORKS

LightScribe Media:

Designing and burning with SureThing Labeller:

Summary:

Overburning:

900MB (99 minute) over-burn test:

DVD+R over-burn test:

DVD-R over-burn test:

MINI DVD discs:

Video-CD disc:

Positive:

Negative:

Conclusion:

Thanks to:

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