Samsung TS-H552B DVD Burner

---

 

 

Samsung Europe was kind enough to send us the Samsung TS-H552B DVD-writer. This drive supports 16x DVD+R writing, 12x DVD-R and 2.4x DVD+R9 DL writing technology, allowing dual layer discs of 8.5Gb to be written.

 

Samsung has developed and produced optical drives since 1994. In 2004, they joined up with Toshiba for manufacturing and developing optical drives.

 

Company information:

 

We are sure that most of you know Samsung/TSST already, but let us take a look at some of the company information found at: www.samsung.com / www.tsstorage.com

 

If you are interested in reading more company information, please visit: www.samsung.com / www.tsstorage.com

 

Drive specifications:

---

 

These are the specifications of this drive, found on the Samsung site:

What's inside the box?

 

On this page we will take a look at what the drive came shipped with and take a look at the drive and its technology.

 

Front

 

Back

 

Top

 

Bottom

 

Left/Right side

Below you will see the contents of the retail box:

 

• The drive itself
• Audio cable
• Pinnacle installation CD
• IDE cable
• 4 mounting screws
• Quick install guide

Now it's time to take a look at the drive itself:

 

 

 

A standard bezel with logos of supported writing formats '“ except for the DVD+R9 DL logo - which is missing. Head phone connector and volume knob is missing too. The drive uses one small coloured led (green) for read and write (we prefer a different led colour though for writing). The eject knob is transparent and in 'the dark" it 'flashes" together with the read/write led.

 

 

On top of the drive we found three stickers and we can read it was manufactured in Korea , dated September 2004.

On the back of the drive from left to right: digital audio connector, analogue audio connector, pins and jumper to set the drive to cable select, slave or master, IDE connector and the power connector.

We installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero info tool:

 

 

Our drive shipped with firmware TS04 and it is the latest one available (for the public). From the screenshot of Nero InfoTool above, we miss Mt.Rainier support and a larger buffer size.

 

And another shot from Nero Burning ROM:

 

 

 

We do not really find anything alarming here, but Mount Rainier and a larger buffer would have been nice.

 

But let us continue this review and see how it really performs.

 

 

On the next page we will take a look at the test machine, the software, the drive features and the included software…………

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Test
machine:

 

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

 

Hardware:

 

⋅        
Motherboard:
ECS Elitegroup N2U400-A with Nvidia nForce 2 Ultra-400 and nForce MCP
chipset.
⋅        
Processor:
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (Barton) 333 MHz FSB.
⋅        
RAM: 1
GB Infineon PC2700 DDR
⋅        
GFX: ATI
Radeon 9600 XT
⋅        
Sound:
SoundBlaster Audigy
⋅        
Hard
disk: Samsung SP1614N 160 GB.

 

System
set-up:

 

The
drive was
connected as Secondary Master, identified itself as TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H552B.
DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all
devices.

 

Software:

 

Windows
XP professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for
windows XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

 

⋅        
Ahead Nero Burning ROM version
6.6.0.1

⋅        
Ahead Nero CD/DVD Speed
v3.24

⋅        
Ahead Nero InfoTool
v2.27

⋅        
Slysoft CloneCD v5.0.4.2

⋅        
DVD-Identifier
3.4

⋅        
Exact Audio Copy v0.95
prebeta 5

⋅        
K-Probe
v2.4.2

 

Now it's
time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the Samsung
TS-H552B:

 

CD-Recordable:

 

The
Samsung
TS-H552B uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular
Velocity) to write at its rated speed of 40x.
This gives an average speed of 34.27x.  

 

The
Philips DVDR1640 uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to
write at its maximum speed of 40X. This gives an
average speed of 29.86x. Two drives for comparison are found
below.

 

The NEC
ND-2500A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. The drive wrote the last
zone at 32X and this gives an average speed of 27.16x.

 

 For
comparison we have made the following table: 

 

As we
can read from the table, the Samsung TS-H522B is the fastest drive when writing
to CD-R media.

 

CD-ReWritable:

 

The
Samsung TS-H552B uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular
Velocity) writing technology to write at 32X for CD-RW discs, the average
speed is 30.21x. Below are some other drives for comparison:

 

 

The
Pioneer DVR-107D uses Z-CLV,
(Zone-Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its rated speed of 24x, this gives an
average speed of 22.47x.

 

 

The
LaCie d2 DVD±RW
Double Layer uses
CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) writing technology to write
at 16X for CD-RW discs, the average speed is 16x. For a better overview we
present the following comparison table:

 

As we
can see from the table, the Samsung TS-H552B is again the fastest drive, due to
the 32x P-CAV technique.

 

16X/12x
DVD-Writing speed:

 

The
Samsung TS-H552B uses CAV, (Constant
Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at 16x. The
Average speed is 12.03x and total writing time is 5 minutes and 58
seconds.

 

The
Samsung TS-H552B uses P-CAV, (Partial-Constant Angular
Velocity) to write DVD-R at 12x. The Average speed is 9.21x and total
writing time is 7 minutes and 10 seconds.

 

The
Philips DVDR1640P uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity) to write at 16x. The Average
speed is 11.56x and total writing time is 5 minutes and 48 seconds. The average
speed is lower and the writing time is higher than it could have been due to the
Walking OPC generation 2 using some time to constantly adjust the writing
quality, we could se this as constant dips in the speed curve.

 

 

The BenQ
DW1600A also uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity) to write at 16x. The Average
speed is 11.32x and total writing time is 6 minutes and 7 seconds. Below we made a comparison
table:

 

From the
table above, we can see that the Samsung TS-H552B is 10 seconds slower then the
Philips DVDR1640P writing DVD+R.

 

Features and techniques:

 

What
is double layer recording technology?

 

Introduced
by Philips and Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM) in 2003, double layer recording
technology offers two recordable layers on a single DVD disc, providing nearly
double the capacity of 4.7GB single layer DVDs. The two individual layers are
separated by a transparent buffer layer and are accessible from the same side of
the disc, so recording can occur completely uninterrupted.

 

When
a double layer disc is inserted into a compatible drive, the laser will focus on
one of the layers and attempt to read an ADIP (Address in Pregroove) signal.
From this signal, the drive is able to detect if the disc is a double layer
DVD+R disc and which layer it's focusing on. Once the media type and layer are
determined, the laser can adjust its range of focus to read one of the two
recordable layers.

 

 

Supported
techniques:

 

Included software:

 

Now it's
time to look at the included software and to comment if needed. Notice that we
may not use the included software in our performance testing part of the
review.

 

Pinnacle
Instant CD/DVD:

 

 

 

 

We guess
that the Pinnacle program is not new to most of you; it contains programs for
creating most types of CD/DVD discs, etc.

 

Now that
we have finished examining the drive and its writing strategies, it's time to
head on to next page, which is reading performance
test…

---

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:

• 16X on
  DVD-ROM


• 8x on
  DVD+R9 DL


• 8x on DVD±R/RW


• 48x on CD-R


• 32x on CD-RW

 Pressed
discs:

 

For this
test we used a pressed CD-ROM disc containing Creative Blaster Audigy install CD
which is close to 74 minutes long. Below you will see the produced
result:

 

 

 

The
Samsung TS-H552B had no problems reaching approximately 48x, let us see how this
compares to other drives and look below:

 

The
fastest DVD-Writer we've had so far for reading pressed CD-ROM. Seek times are
good except the full seek times which is average. The other drives listed above
(except LaCie, Philips DVDR1640P and Samsung TS-H552B) we used a pressed CD-ROM
disc containing PlexTools v1.08 that is exactly 74 minutes long.

 

CD-Recordable
Discs:

 

For this
test we made a copy of the original Creative Blaster Audigy install CD. The disc
we used was a Verbatim 48X certified CD-R disc manufactured by Mitsubishi
Chemicals Corporation. 

 

 

The
Samsung TS-H522B
showed excellent performance on CD-R and the
seek times are good too. The other drives listed above (except LaCie, Philips
DVDR1640P and Samsung TS-H552B) we used a disc containing PlexTools v1.08 that
is exactly 74 minutes long.

 

CD-ReWritable
discs:

 

Again,
we made a copy of the original Creative Blaster Audigy install CD, this time we
used a Verbatim Ultra Speed+ (32X) CD-RW disc made by Mitsubishi Chemicals
Corporation.

 

 

As we
can see above, the drive is locked at 32x when reading CD-RW discs back; let us
compare it to other drives below.

 

It's the
slowest drive '“ reading CD-RW's, but the seek times are excellent. The other
drives listed above (except LaCie, Philips DVDR1640P and Samsung TS-H552B), we
used a disc containing PlexTools v1.08 that is exactly 74 minutes
long.

 

Audio
'“ Digital Audio Extraction:

 

To test
the digital audio extraction performance of the Samsung TS-H522B, we again 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 about
78 minutes long (77:43:45).

 

 

The
drive reached easily top speed (48x) - reading the audio disc back, let us
compare the result with other drives:

 

The
drive performed excellently in this test. The other drives listed above (except
LaCie, Philips DVDR1640P and Samsung TS-H522B) we used an audio disc that it's
about 78 minutes long (77:56:57).

 

Below is
the results produced by EAC:

 

 Burst
mode

 

 

Secure
mode

 

The
drive showed excellent performance in both burst mode and secure mode
tests.

 

Advanced
audio '“ DAE quality test:

 

Before
we move on to testing DVD read speeds, we will take a last audio test, this time
we used the 'Advanced DAE Quality Test" feature in CD-Speed.

 

 

The
extracting quality is excellent and it should support everything except reading
data from the Leadin/Leadout.

 

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.

 

DVD
'“ DVD-Video:

 

For our
DVD reading performance tests we are going to start with a single and dual
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

 

As we
could see the drive read single layer DVD-Video at 16X CAV and double layer
DVD-Video at 8x. To see how the transfer rate is on a Data DVD we used the
'Dracula II - Die Letzte Zufluchtssté¤tte"
DVD-ROM:

 

 

As we
could see, there is no speed limit when reading the data DVD-ROM and it would
probably reached 16X if the DVD-ROM disc completely filled with data.

 

Since
the drive can read the 3 formats without any limitations it is the fastest drive
so far reading DVD-Video Single Layer and DVD-Video double layer. It will read
data DVD-ROM discs also at full speed.

 

DVD '“ DVD+R(W):

---

 

For this
test we used a Plextor (Taiyo Yuden) 8X DVD+R and a Verbatim 4X DVD+RW with
about 4,4Gb of data. Below are the results:

 

DVD+R

 

 
DVD+RW

 

The
reading speed was locked to 8x for DVD+R and DVD+RW, which is pretty normal for
most new drives.

 

The
Samsung TS-H522B is among the fastest drives.

 

DVD '“ DVD-R/RW:

---

 

For this
test we used a Maxell (Taiyo Yuden) 4X DVD-R disc and a Verbatim 4X 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 compared to reading the DVD+R/RW discs.

 

Again
the Samsung TS-H522B is among the fastest drives.

 

Overall
thoughts:

 

The
Samsung TS-H552B's reading performance is quite good overall.

 

 

But now
it's time to head on to a more interesting part: Writing CD-R and CD-RW
discs…

---

 

The specifications of the Samsung TS-H552B state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 40x 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 700Mb 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. (40x):

 

 

The drive used exactly 3 minutes to write the disc at 40x. Let us see how this compares to other drives for the same writing operation at 40x speed:

• Philips DVDR1640P used 3 minutes and 17 seconds
• NU DDW-082 used 3 minutes and 2 seconds
• Plextor PX-708A used 2 minutes and 58 seconds

Write Quality:

 

We will test CD-R discs from a total of 6 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 LTR-52327S drive with firmware QS0E 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.

 

Why wait any longer? Below are the obtained results:

 

 

 

Brand:	EMTEC '“ Thanks to MPOTEC (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Plasmon Data Systems Ltd.
Code:	97m27s18f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 8: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703 MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	40x
Write Time:	2m:54s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.82
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

 

EMTEC CD-R High Performance, this media
got an average of 0.82 - C1 errors and is consider as 'Best disc quality".
Recommended!

 

 

 

Brand:	MMORE '“ Thanks to MMORE (NL) 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
Write Time:	2m:56s
C1 Average/Sec:	1.36
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

 

MMORE media - manufactured by Boser Baer India Limited and
with it's average of 1.36 it goes in 'best discs" category.

 

 

 

Brand:	Plextor
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:	40x
Write Time:	2m:47s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.96
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

 

Media made by Taiyo Yuden have always had a good reputation
and with the average 0.96 it also goes into the group 'best discs".

 

 

Brand:	Sky Ultra'“ Thanks to Sky Media (CH) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Plasmon Data Systems Ltd.
Code:	97m27s18f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 8: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	40x
Write Time:	2m:54s
C1 Average/Sec:	2.39
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

 

Sky CD-R with Plasmon media code got an average of
2.39 and goes into the category 'good quality discs".

 

 

 

Brand:	Traxdata - Thanks to Conrexx (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Ritek
Code:	97m15s17f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	24x
Write Time:	3m:56s
C1 Average/Sec:	2.30
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

 

Also this media goes into the category 'good quality discs" for its average with 2.30.

 

 

Brand:	Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) 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:	79:59.73 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	40x
Write Time:	2m:54s
C1 Average/Sec:	4.31
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

 

Verbatim - a well known brand showed us an average of 4.31
it goes in the category 'Good Discs".

 

Writing Quality with
Re-Writable discs:

---

Due to requests from our readers,
we will add a few write quality tests with Re-Writable media. Settings and
testing procedures is the same as used earlier in this review so you may want to
go back and read them if unsure. All discs used for these tests have been
written to before, but none have been written to more than 5 times.

CD-ReWritable media:

 

 

 

Brand:	Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) 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
Write Time:	3m:10s
C1 Average/Sec:	160.80
C2 Average/Sec:	0.36

 

It looks like the Samsung TS-H552B did not like this media. Very high C1
Errors and many C2 Errors. According to the reading curve, there was no problem
at all reading this 'bad burned disc".

 

 

 

Brand:	Traxdata '“ Thanks to Conrexx (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Plasmon Data Systems Ltd.
Code:	97m27s12f
Disc Type:	High Speed CD-RW 8-24x
Recording Layer:	Phase Change
Capacity:	74:41.00 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	8x-24x
Write Speed:	24x
Write Time:	3m:38s
C1 Average/Sec:	374.20
C2 Average/Sec:	13.63

 

Ouch! Very high C1 and C2 error, and as expected the disc
was NOT readable. The Samsung TS-H552B did not like this media either.

 

Summary:

The results are really good! Overall it makes a very good
job writing to CD-R Media. If we should point something out, it would be that
other drives nowadays can write CD-R at 48x. And the write quality for
CD-RW is questionable.

 

 

So let us head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing
performance……

---

 

The specifications of this drive tell us that it should write DVD+R at 16x, DVD-R discs at 12x, DVD+RW and DVD-RW at 4x speed. In this part we will measure the write time for various types of DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs. We do also focus on write quality and media compatibility.

 

DVD-Writing performance:

 

In this test we will measure the time for writing to DVD+R/-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

 

Look below for the results.

 

As we can see, the Philips drive is still
the fastest one writing DVD+R, but the Samsung TS-H522B is the fastest one on
DVD-R due to the 12x P-CAV burn feature. Let us see how 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 SOHW-832S 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, PO (Parity Outer) set to summarize 1 ECC
block, reading speed: 4X CLV (Constant Linear Velocity). Setting
the PI sum to 8 and the PO
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 is 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-ROM disc (Baldur's Gate DVD-ROM).

 

This scan shows the result from a pressed DVD-Video disk
(Indiana Jones and the last crusade). 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 what 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 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 PO errors that K-Probe reports? Actually the PO errors that K-Probe reports is the
Parity Inner uncorrectable errors, meaning errors left after PI correction. Only
the ECMA 337 standard describes the Parity Inner uncorrectable errors. So how is
a Parity Inner uncorrectable error defined? Here are what 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-uncorrectable"."

 

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

 

'- In any ECC Block the number of PI-uncorrectable rows
should not exceed 4."

 

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

 

But what makes a disc unreadable? A PO uncorrectable error
will make the disc unreadable, but K-Probe does not display the PO uncorrectable errors.

 

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.

 

And 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 to 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
Toshiba SD-M1802 16x DVD-ROM and Plextor DVDR PX-712A. Only the best of
the best discs will be able to get a perfect reading curve, so our limit for
good discs will be: A speed drop at the end is accepted, but the reading speed
should not drop below 6x for longer periods (small dips below 6x are
accepted).

 

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.

 

PO(Parity Outer): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 4 PO-1 (actually
PI uncorrectable) errors, do not worry too much about high single spikes that
exceed 4.

As always; lower is better.

 

Look at the reading curve, some slowdowns is expected with
most media, but the reading speed should not drop below 6x for longer periods
(small dips below 6x are accepted).

 

DVD+R media compatibility
and write quality:

 

 

Brand:	BenQ
Manufacturer:	Daxon Inc.
Code:	DAXON AZ2
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	13m:42s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	3.47
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.01

 

The writer started to write this media with 8x P-CAV, but
dropped down to 4x CLV when it reached the 8x mark. The KProbe result and the
reading curve are both good.

Emtec DVD+R 8x
Preliminary Samples

 

Brand:	Emtech - Thanks to MPOTEC (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Opto Disc
Code:	OPTODISC OR8
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	13m:18s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	153.40
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	5.87

 

The writer started to write this media with 8x P-CAV too,
but dropped down to 4x CLV when it reached the 8x mark. The KProbe result is bad
- the reading curve looks ok, but as you can see it did not read the media back
at 16x.

 

 

 

Brand:	Fuji
Manufacturer:	Philips Electronics
Code:	PHILIPS C 16
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1x-16x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	8m:15s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.83
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.01

 

This 16x certified media was only burned at 8x!! The Kprobe
result is very good and the reading curve is good too, except the slowdown at
the end.

 

 

Brand:	MMORE - Thanks to MMORE (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Moser Baer India Limited
Code:	MBIPG101 R04
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1x-8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	8m:15s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	12.75
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.05

 

The KProbe result is within the specifications and the
reading curve is almost perfect.

 

Brand:	Plextor
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden Company Limited
Code:	YUDEN 000 T02
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	7m:58s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.07
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.00

 

This media is the one the most expensive media in DVD+R
tests. Even though the Kprobe results are very good, we have seen better.

 

 

Brand:	Sky Media (Swisstech) '“ Thanks to Sky Media (CH) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Plasmon Data Limited
Code:	Plasmon 1C01
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	8m:17s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	20.09
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.19

 

The Kprobe result is within the specifications. The Toshiba
DVD-ROM would not recognize this media, so we read it back with the Plextor
PS-712A.  The
reading curve had a major speed dropdown at the beginning.

 

Brand:	Traxdata - Thanks to Conrexx (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Ritek Corporation
Code:	RITEK R04
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	12x
Write Time:	7m:10s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	22.36
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.00

 

Even though this media is certified at 16x, the Samsung
TS-H552B would only write this media at 12x. The KProbe result is ok and the
reading curve is close to perfect.

 

 

Brand:	Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	MCC 004
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	5m:58s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	274.80
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	3.11

 

This media was not recognized by
the Toshiba DVD-ROM, so we tried to read it back with the Plextor PX-712A. As
expected it failed, due to the very high errors reported in the KProbe
result.

 

DVD+ReWritable media:

---

 

 

 

Brand:	EMTECH - Thanks to MPOTEC (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Opto Disc
Code:	OPTODISC OP4
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1-4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:44s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	25.28
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.51

 

The KProbe result is ok and the reading curve is close to
perfect.

 

 

Brand:	MMORE - Thanks to MMORE (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Moser Baer India Limited
Code:	MBIPG101 W04
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1-4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:47s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.97
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.02

 

Excellent KProbe result with a perfect reading
curve.

 

 

Brand:	Traxdata - Thanks to Conrexx (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Ricoh Company Limited
Code:	RICOH JPN W11
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1-4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:44s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	3.34
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.11

 

Some high spikes (PIF) in the Kprobe result, but it did not
affect the reading curve - which is perfect.

 

 

Brand:	Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM A02
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:15s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	4.65
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.89

 

Some high spikes (PIF) in the KProbe results, but it did
not affect the reading curve - which is perfect.

 

The DVD+R media compatibility and quality could need some
improvements. We only managed to write ONE DVD+R 16x certified media at 16x, due
to some media that are downgraded in the writing speed. The DVD+RW quality is
ok.

 

 

On the next page you will find the DVD-R/RW writing
results...

---

DVD-R media compatibility and write quality:

 

In these
tests, we will be using the Toshiba SD-M1802 to read back the DVD-R's and the
Plextor PX-712A to read back the DVD-RW's.

 

 

Brand:	BenQ
Manufacturer:	Sony Corporation
Code:	SONY 08D1
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	8m:24s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	70.75
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	1.45

 

A bad KProbe result way over the
specifications and as expected the disc was unreadable.

 

Brand:	Memorex
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics Corporation
Code:	CMC MAG AE1
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	N/A
Write Time:	N/A
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	N/A
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	N/A

 

The Samsung TS-H552B reported a
write error while trying to write to this Memorex DVD-R 8x media.

 

 

Brand:	MMORE - Thanks to MMORE (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	FUJI Photo Film Co. Ltd.
Code:	FUJIFILM03
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1x-8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	9m:42s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	103.60
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	1.08

 

Another media that Kprobe reported
with high errors and as expected the media was not readable.

 

 

Brand:	PRINCO
Manufacturer:	Princo Corporation
Code:	PRINCO
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1x-4x
Write Speed:	2x
Write Time:	29m:57s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	7.81
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.32

 

KProbe reported some high PIF
errors at the end of the disc, but the reading curve is acceptable '“ just some
small dips below 6x.

 

 

Brand:	Sky Media - Thanks to Sky Media (CH) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Plasmon Data Limited
Code:	PLASMON 1A
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	15m:18s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	9.78
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.03

 

The KProbe scan is good and the
reading curve is close to perfect.

 

 

Brand:	Traxdata - Thanks to Conrexx (NL) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Ritek Corporation
Code:	RITEK G05
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	15m:19s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	3.13
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.05

 

Some high spikes in the beginning
of the KProbe scan, but the burn is ok. The reading curve is good.

 

 

Brand:	Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MCC 02R G20
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	8m:26s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	126.60
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	2.00

 

Even though Kprobe reported very
high errors in the scan, the disc was still readable.

 

DVD-ReWritable media:

---

 

 

 

Brand:	Platinum
Manufacturer:	RiTEK Corporation
Code:	RITEK W04
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:55s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	41.06
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.16

 

The reading
curve has a slowdown at the end of the disc - the KProbe scan is ok.

 

 

Brand:	Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MCC 01RW 4x
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:59s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.31
PI-8 uncorrectable errors(PO) Avg/Sec:	0.01

 

Perfect reading curve and the
KProbe scan are also perfect.

 

To
sum it up:
Overall, the write quality could have been better and questionable DVD-R
compatibility and quality.

 

 

Head on
to next page and read about DVD+R DL compatibility and write
quality...

---

 

DVD+R Dual Layer writing speed and compatibility:

 

The Samsung TS-H552B supports the DVD+R DL standard for writing Dual Layer discs with a size of 8.5 GB. Let us first take a look at the media's we will use:

 

 

Let's find the manufacturer and media information too, for this we will use DVD Identifier 3.4:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R-DL : MKM-001-000]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Type :              [DVD+R DL]
Manufacturer ID :        [MKM]
Manufacturer Name :      [Mitsubishi Kagaku Media]
Media Type ID :          [001]
Product Revision :       [Not Specified]
Disc Application Code :  [General Purpose]
Recording Speeds :       [1x , 2.4x]
Blank Disc Capacity :    [4,173,824 Sectors = 8,152.0MB = 7.96GB (8.55GB)]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Full media code:
0000 : e1 0f 32 10 00 03 00 00  00 fc ff ff 00 22 d7 ff   ..2.........."..
0010 : 00 00 00 4d 4b 4d 00 00  00 00 00 30 30 31 00 40   ...MKM.....001.@
0020 : 25 25 37 0c 02 2f 63 02  2f 63 21 23 0d 0e 14 14   %7../c./c!#....
0030 : 02 01 01 10 00 21 23 0d  0e 14 14 02 01 01 10 00   .....!#.........

This
media is manufactured by Mitsubishi Kagaku (Made inSingapore ). Thanks to Verbatim ( Germany ) for sending us this media.

 

 

Manufacturer and media information:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R-DL : RITEK-D01-001]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Type :              [DVD+R DL]
Manufacturer ID :        [RITEK]
Manufacturer Name :      [Ritek Co.]
Media Type ID :          [D01]
Product Revision :       [001]
Disc Application Code :  [General Purpose]
Recording Speeds :       [1x , 2.4x]
Blank Disc Capacity :    [4,173,824 Sectors = 8,152.0MB = 7.96GB (8.55GB)]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0000 : e1 0f 32 10 00 03 00 00  00 fc ff ff 00 22 d7 ff   ..2.........."..
0010 : 00 00 00 52 49 54 45 4b  00 00 00 44 30 31 01 40   ...RITEK...D01.@
0020 : 25 25 37 00 00 28 64 00  28 64 19 1b 0b 0b 0e 0f   %7..(d.(d......
0030 : 01 00 00 00 00 19 1b 0b  0b 0e 0f 01 00 00 00 00   ................
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The media is made by Ritek (Made in Taiwan). Thanks to Conrexx Technology B.V. (The Netherlands) for sending us this media.

 

Testing procedure: We created an ISO Image of the largest DVD-Video disc we had (Nemo, 7.91 GB (8.495.888.384 bytes)) using DVD-Decrypter. Then we wrote this image file using Nero Burning ROM 6. Below are the results:

 

Verbatim branded DL media.

 

Huh? What's this? The Traxdata DVD+R9 DL media is not in the drives write strategy list.

 

And as expected - the burn process failed just before switching to the 2^nd Layer.

 

The Samsung TS-H522B used 43 minutes and 46 seconds for writing the Verbatim DVD+R DL at 2.4x. Let us take a look at the K-Probe result of the created disc:

 

 

A very good KProbe result, now it's time to take a look at some reading tests with various DVD-Writers and DVD-ROM drives.

 

First we will try to read the discs back in the Samsung TS-H552B drive:

 

 

As we could see, the Samsung drive had no problems reading the discs. Let us try some other drives to read the Dual Layer discs:

 

The Plextor DVDR PX-712A did not have any problems with reading the dual layer discs either.

 

As we can see, the disc could be read back without any problems in the Philips DVDR1640P. Let's try reading the disc in the JLMS XJ-HD166S DVD-ROM:

 

 

No problem here either. Let's compare the Samsung TS-H552B with other DL capable drives.

 

* Verbatim DVD+R9 DL
** Philips DVD+R9 DL

 

 

Standalone DVD-Player compatibility:

---

 

We only have 3 standalone DVD-Players available to test the Samsung DVD+R9 DL written DVD (Book Type: DVD+DL - is done automatically by the firmware and there is no way to change it at the moment).

 

⋅         Aiwa DVD Player XD-DV370

⋅         Medion DVD/Div-X Player MD7457

⋅         Red Star DVD-Player 230G

 

Compatibility results:

 

Only the Aiwa XD-DV370 would play the disc. The 2 other standalone DVD-Players reported: 'NO DISC".

 

Summary: Good quality results! If we should point something out it will be the book type. The Samsung do not set the book type to DVD-ROM on DVD+R9 DL media, which results in compatible problems with standalone DVD-Players.

 

 

Before we round off this review, let us run the drive through some advanced tests at next page…

---

To round
off this review we will run some advanced tests on the Samsung TS-H552B. These
tests are: 'Sheep Test", protected audio discs and some special disc
test.

 

Copy protected data discs:

---

 

For this
test, we will use the Sheep tests made by Alexander
Noé. Why is
it called sheep test? That is since the symbol 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 could be found here.

In the
screenshot below take from CloneCD v5.0.4.2, we see the Samsung TS-H552B
supports everything.

 

The
Samsung TS-H552B supports DAO-RAW96 recording mode, which basically means, it
can write uncorrected data and subchannel data. Drive used to verify that the
tests works are JLMS XJ-HD166S. Below are our results from the 'Sheep
Tests":

 

 

As we
can read from the table the Samsung TS-H552B is a 'Two Sheep Burner". But it
failed to write the Sheep3 tests.

 

Copy protected
Audio:

 

For our
protected audio test, we used the Exact Audio Copy program. We inserted the
protected audio discs and if the drive was able to recognize the disc we tried
to extract the music tracks to the hard drive. First let us look at the discs we
had available for this test:

 

 

 

Herbert
Gé¶nemeyer: Mensch
- This disc is protected with Cactus Datashield 200.0.4 .3(build 12b)

 

 

And
Celine Dion: A new day has come; protected with key2audio version
3.

 

Results:

 

 

The CD's
was read at full speed without any problems.

 

Overburning:

 

To test
the overburning capabilities of the Samsung TS-H552B, we used the overburning
test in Nero CD/DVD-Speed. According to Nero CD/DVD speed the drive can overburn
99 minutes.

 

 

  

 

The
picture above shows us that the Samsung TS-H552B did not have any problems
reading 99 minutes long CD's. The reading curve is very nice indeed. The speed
at the end of the CD was 50.91x (The drive is certified to 48x on
CD-R).

 

 

Now,
that concludes our Samsung review, head on to the last page to read our
conclusion…

Positive:

• Supports DVD+R9 DL writing
• Supports 16x DVD+R speed
• 16x CAV burns leads to faster burns when compared with 16x Z-CLV
• Reads CDs at 48x and DVDs at 16x
• Good writing quality on CD-R's 
• Fast and perfect audio extraction
• Can rip protected audio discs
• 'Two sheep" writer
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Supports 99 minutes CD-R discs

Negative:

• Does notsupport Mt. Rainier
• Only 40x burn speed on CD-R
• Questionable DVD-R and CD-RW writing quality
• Questionable DVD+R 16x quality
• Poor media compatibility
• Write some certified media at lower speed
• No bitsetting on DVD+R/R9 DL/RW media
• Read CD-RW discs at 32x only
• 8x reading speed on DVD+R/RW/DL & DVD-R/RW media

Conclusion:

---

 

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

 

The main positive points: The first point we would like to mention is the DVD+R9 DL support, the technology is quite young and it is an interesting format to experiment with. The next point is the 16x DVD+R CAV writing technique that leads to faster burns when compared with 16x Z-CLV. The drive is a very good reader and it can read CD-R's at 48x and DVD's at 16x, even audio cd's can be read/ripped at high speed. Due to 'two sheep" burner and the DAO-RAW writing mode - the drive can be used to backup copy protected CD's. It also supports 99 minutes CD-R's and writing quality on CD-R's are quite good.

 

The main negative points: This drive has some negative issues, like the questionable write quality on DVD-R's, CD-RW's and DVD+R at 16x. We also like to mention the poor media compatibility and that some media will be burned on lower speed then certified. (I.e. DVD+R 16x with Philips media code will be burned at 12x and DVD+R9 DL with Ritek media code is not implanted in the firmware). The drive does not support booktype bitsetting on DVD+R/DVD+RW/DVD+R9 DL which lead to very low compatibility on i.e. DVD standalone devices. Another point is the 8x reading speed on DVD+R/RW/DL and DVD-R/RW - other drives can do this at 10x. The same goes for the reading speed on CD-RW which is locked at 32x.

 

To sum it all up, this is the best we could say: 'Good CD-R writing quality and an excellent reader, but poor media compatibility and quality on DVD's".  If Samsung had fixed these issues with the media compatibility and quality in their latest firmware update, we would have brought out an award for it. We feel that this drive was rushed too fast onto the market. Remember '“ this drive was the first Korean made 16x DVD+R drive that was launched in Korea.

 

 

You may discuss/comment this review below or in this forum thread.

 

 

Thanks to:

---

 

 

Conrexx Technology B.V. '“ The Netherlands for providing the DVD+R 16x, DVD+RW 4x, DVD+R9 DL 2.4x, DVD-R 8x, CD-R 52x and CD-RW 24x for used in this review.

 

EMTEC (MPOTEC GmbH) - Germany for providing the DVD+R 8x, DVD+RW 4x and CD-R 52x media used in this review.

 

 

 

MMORE International B.V. - The Netherlands for providing the DVD+R 8x, DVD+RW 4x and DVD-R 8x media used in this review.

 

 

 

Sky Media Manufacturing sa '“ Switzerland for providing the DVD+R 8x, DVD-R 8x and CD-R 52x media used in this review.

 

Verbatim GmbH - Germany for providing the DVD+R 16x, DVD+RW 4x, DVD+R9 DL, DVD-R 8x, DVD-RW 4x, CD-R 52x and CD-RW 24x media used in this review.