Samsung spins out world's fastest dual-layer DVD writer

The 16X DVD+R dual-layer drive

By James Sherwood • Get more from this author

31st October 2007 11:01 GMT

Samsung claims to have created the world’s fastest dual-layer DVD burner, a drive with Lightscribe label-etching technology that can write a DVD+R DL disc at 16x speed.

Samsung said that since 10-12x is the current standard for dual-layer burning, its new internal drive, the SH-S203N, takes a 30-40 per cent less time to fill a dual-layer disc.

samsung-sh-s203n
Samsung's SH-S203N: high-speed dual-layer burning

The drive's other write speeds aren’t world firsts, but keep up with rivals’ dual-layer drives. For example, the SH-S203N writes to DVD-R dual-layer media at 12x and single-layer DVD±R at 20x. By contrast, Toshiba’s dual-layer SD-R5472 drive writes to dual-layer DVD+R discs at 6x and single-layer DVD+RW at 8x.

The SH-S203N drive has a 1.5Gbps SATA interface.

If you’ve got enough time to spare to order one, then the SH-S203N is worldwide for $80 (£40/€50).