Samsung DVD Drive Scores Big

White-box builders customizing machines for video recording and editing should consider Samsung's new Writemaster TS-H552 16X DVD rewritable drive. Customers can use the drive to create almost any kind of data or video disc, and at $189, the drive won't significantly increase the total price of a system.

The TS-H552 is a double-layer unit that supports all popular DVD recordable/rewritable formats. It's ideal for video editing and recording as well as archiving data. The unit provides double-layer storage capacity of up to 8.5 Gbytes on a single disc. While the double-layer drive can read two layers of data on a one-sided disc, it does not have dual lasers, so a double-sided disc must be turned over to be read.

The TS-H552 features Samsung's Silent Pulse Width Modulation technology and an Automatic Ball-Balancing System to help reduce high-speed reading and recording noise. The company's Speed Adjustment technology automatically sets the record speed based on what the blank media will allow. Tilt Actuator Compensation tilts the disc for the best possible writing integrity, and Double Optimum Power Control helps to precisely control laser power at the inner and outer edges of the disc.

The TS-H552 drive can record on DVD+R media at 16X, DVD-R at 12X, DVD+/-RW at 4X and double-layer DVD+R at 2.4X. The drive reads recordable DVD media at 8X and DVD-ROM at 16X. It can record on CD-R media at 40X and on CD-RW media at 32X. These are maximum speeds, and the brand and quality of the media used determine the actual speed.

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