Samsung TS-H552

Samsung TS-H552 DL Recorder - Page 1

SAMSUNG has been a major contributor in Optical Media Solutions since 1995. With such a great background, the company decided to enter the 16X DVD market by releasing its latest model, TS-H552.

The brand new model supports 16X DVD+R, 12X DVD-R, 2.4X DVD+R DL, 4X DVD±RW, 40X CD-R and 32X US-RW.

We were further informed by Samsung that there will soon be a newer drive released, supporting 16X for both the DVD+R and DVD-R formats and 4X for Double Layer media (which will be raised to 5X with a firmware upgrade).

- Specifications

Data Transfer Rate	Media Type	Write	Read
	DVD+R DVD+R Double	16X (21.6MB/sec) 2.4X (3.24MB/sec)	8X (10.8MB/sec) 8X (10.8MB/sec)
	DVD+RW	4X (5.4MB/sec)	8X (10.8MB/sec)
	DVD-R	12X (16.2MB/sec)	8X (10.8MB/sec)
	DVD-RW	4X (5.4MB/sec)	8X (10.8MB/sec)
	DVD-ROM	-	16X (21.6MB/sec)
	CD-ROM	-	48X (7.2MB/sec)
	CD-R	40X (6.0MB/sec)	48X (7.2MB/sec)
	CD-RW	32X (4.8MB/sec)	32X (4.8MB/sec)
Burst Transfer Rate	PIO Mode 4 (16.6MB/sec) Ultra DMA Mode 2 (33.3MB/sec)
Average Seek Time	DVD : 130ms CD : 110ms
Supported Disc	DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, CD-Audio, Video-CD, Photo CD, CD-I(FMV), CD-Extra, CD-TEXT
Buffer Memory	2MB
Dimensions (WxHxD mm)	148.2x 42x 184
Weight (kg)	0.76

Below are the drive's main specs as provided by NeroInfoTool and DVDInfoPro:

The drive uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times. For our tests, we set the region code to 2 (Europe)

- The drive / Retail Package

The retail package includes the internal TS-H552 drive, a setup guide as well as an audio cable, mounting screws and atapi cable. Ther is also a DVD included in the package with Instand CD/DVD 8 from Pinnacle with manual and Acrobat Reader.

The front is the typical panel available on most Samsung drives with the only difference being the array of logos. Notice that there is no DVD+R DL format logo.

On the rear panel you will find the analogue and digital audio outputs (SPDIF), the IDE selection pins, the IDE connector and the power input.

Opening the device's case will void the drive's warranty, something we don't recommend. Press on the image below for an enlarged view.

The main chipset is from Mediatek and is the same series with that used on the LiteOn SOHW-1633S.

- Installation

The device was connected in our test PC and was identified as "TSST corp CD/DVDW TS-H552B " under WinXP.

The following pages include test results for the Samsung drive, compared with the Philips DVDRW1640P and Pioneer DVR-108.

We received the drive with firmware revision TS03. However, already available was version TS04 which we subsequently used for our tests.

- Testing software

In order to perform our tests we used: