Samsung SE-S084C External DVD Writer Review

Author

Arachne
Administrator & Reviewer
Article posted 18 Nov 09 19:48

Introduction

 

Review: Samsung SE-S084C
Reviewed by: Arachne
Provided by: Samsung UK
Firmware: TS01
Manufactured: June 2009

We at MyCE would like to present a review the latest external slimline DVD-ReWriter from Samsung – the Samsung SE-S084C. The Samsung SE-S084C supports 8x DVD±R, 8x/6x DVD+RW/DVD-RW, 5x DVD-RAM and 6x DVD+R DL and 6x DVD-R DL writing technology, allowing Double/Dual Layer discs of 8.5Gb to be written.

Company Information

We are sure that most of you know Samsung already, but let us take a look at some of the company information found at: www.samsungoms-europe.com

As a world leader in the field of digital media, Samsung Electronics produces Optical Disc Drives (ODD) since 1994. In the past few years Samsung was able to take a central market position in this field.

With subsidiaries all over Europe and a large part of the former USSR, Samsung Europe can offer the consumer a complete selection of disc drives, for all types of computers.

With large and continuous investments in research and development Samsung is able to be more and more at the forefront of disc drive technology.

As one of the first companies developing COMBO drives (DVD-ROM and CD-RW combined in one disc drive), Samsung is a frontrunner in this technology.

In the field of slim-line technologies, Samsung is expanding the line-up, in order to meet the demands of the market for desktop and notebook PCs.

Samsung offers a wide range of Optical Disc Drives, allowing customers to choose the exact combination of capabilities and features. Our products feature the latest noise suppression technologies. If you are looking for a high performance Optical Drive, you need look no further than Samsung.

If you are interested in reading more company information, please visit: www.samsungoms-europe.com

Drive Specifications




Packaging


Let’s now take a look at the packaging that the drive is shipped in.

The drive that Samsung sent was the retail version, and we can see the package and contents below.


Box front


Box rear


Box left side


Box right side

Box top

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 package was the retail version.

The package contained the Samsung SE-S084C, USB cable, software disc, and instruction manual.

Now let’s take a look at the drive.



Drive front

The front of the Samsung SE-S084C is sparse but stylish. We can see an eject button, emergency eject hole, and a green read/write LED.

Drive top

Drive bottom

On the bottom of the drive we found one label and we can see that the drive was manufactured in the Philippines during June 2009.

On the rear of the drive we can see the USB connector.

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

 

Do you want or have this product?

14 Comments

Bunny
Posts: 53
Posted on: 19 Nov 09 22:04
Thanks for the review.
DVD+R writing quality looks very nice for a slim drive.
alan1476
Posts: 17234
Posted on: 19 Nov 09 23:46
Excellent review Arachne, the new externals are very interesting with all the interest in Netbooks.
vroom
Posts: 6731
Posted on: 20 Nov 09 21:07
Nice review arachne.
mciahel
Posts: 16838
Posted on: 20 Nov 09 22:35
Nice work

As for the conclusion:
I consider that "powered by USB-only" feature together with the absence of a separate power supply and even the possibility to connect an external power source as big MINUS.

No optical drive has a maximum power demand of 2.5W - which is the specified output of an USB port. That means, if the USB port of a given computer (or USB controller card) can not be heavily overloaded, then the unit will not work properly.

Michael
mciahel
Posts: 16838
Posted on: 04 Dec 09 21:48
Nice thing with retail TSST writers is, that you can see the firmware revision of the drive printed onto the box.
I had been shopping today, and saw that drive in the shelves of a local electronics store. They had two different boxes, one of them had a sleeve as "free" extra (for 14 € more ). More interesting: the drives that came with the extra, came with firmware TS00, the other ones had TU00.

Michael
nkm
Posts: 1
Posted on: 27 Jul 10 03:46
As I travel and use my laptop for business and pleasure I have some additional interest in the read category. Is this R/W drive locked into a single dvd region? In several other places on the web comments or reviews seemed to indicate that read capability was included for both Region 1 and Region 2 dvd disks. Is this dual capability native and available in most units sold in the US?

I've been looking for a usb powered, dual region (or region free) unit from a known company for quite a while. Tnx. - nkm
mciahel
Posts: 16838
Posted on: 27 Jul 10 22:55
Hi and Welcome!
Quote:
Originally Posted by nkm View Post
Is this R/W drive locked into a single dvd region?
All (modern) DVD drives allow maximum 5 changes of the region and are then locked to the last one.
I am not sure if the firmware of this drive can be patched to RPC1 (which will void the warranty). MCSE is able to patch several TSST slim drives' firmware, but I don't know if the 084C is supported also.
Quote:
I've been looking for a usb powered, dual region (or region free) unit from a known company for quite a while.
Please be aware that USB powered optical drives violate the USB specs and heavily overload the USB ports. An USB port is specified to deliver 500mA if demanded by the device, an USB powered optical drive needs up to 1500mA. You should ask the manufacturer of your computer if it can handle this massive, 200% overload.

Michael
Spoks
Posts: 6
Posted on: 23 Dec 10 22:48
Is it possible to make this drive RPC1 ? Patch utility didn't work with this drive firmware
cvs
Posts: 1312
Posted on: 24 Dec 10 03:43
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoks View Post
Is it possible to make this drive RPC1 ? Patch utility didn't work with this drive firmware
Yes it is!

1. Go to Samsung and download the latest SE-S084C firmware released on 14/12/2010 (TS02 firmware that is): http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Firmwa...FWDownload.asp
2. Download the Samsung stand alone flasher: http://www.samsungodd.com/KorLib/File/tsdnwin.exe
3. Download ala42's MCSE: http://ala42.cdfreaks.com/MCSE/
4. Extract the SE-S084C_TS02.bin firmware file from the Samsung flasher you downloaded by using WinRar/WinZip
5. Load the SE-S084C_TS02.bin file in MCSE, click the RPC1 box and save it as SE-S084C_TS02_speedpatched.bin
6. Start the tsdnwin.exe flasher program
7. Once the flasher opens, load the speedpached firmware in it and then flash your drive.
8. Reboot when asked and enjoy your new RPC1 drive!
Spoks
Posts: 6
Posted on: 25 Dec 10 09:38
Thank You, cvs!
Actually I have SE-S084D model drive.
I just thought they must be same, but I am not sure any more
I downloaded latest S084D firmware (TS01), extracted it and loaded in MCSE, but there are no options available for change - all fields are grey
cvs
Posts: 1312
Posted on: 25 Dec 10 14:49
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoks View Post
Thank You, cvs!
Actually I have SE-S084D model drive.
I just thought they must be same, but I am not sure any more
I downloaded latest S084D firmware (TS01), extracted it and loaded in MCSE, but there are no options available for change - all fields are grey
Merry Christmas!

SE-S084C and SE-S084D are different drives, in fact they are very different in just about all respects, probably due to SE-S084D's extra ability to behave like a hard disk when connected to a TV/device with an integrated media player.

MCSE doesn't support it yet. The firmware seems to be quite different from the normal SE-S084x firmwares. Its only 1MB in size rather than 2MB as all the others, which suggests that parts of it might be compressed/encrypted.
Better ask ala42 to see if he can add support for it in MCSE ...
Spoks
Posts: 6
Posted on: 25 Dec 10 17:40
Thank You, cvs!

Merry Christmas!
jacobtuff558
Posts: 1
Posted on: 29 Feb 12 18:48
I want to buy this for my company. I will definitely go with this. Thanks for the reviews.
Spoks
Posts: 6
Posted on: 29 Feb 12 20:35
Unfortunately still without RPC1

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CD/DVD Writers

  • With these (internal or external) drives you can read and record DVDs and/or CDs in all kinds of different formats. Every modern drive is able to read and write all kinds of DVDs, so don't worry you have bought the wrong one. Note however that not every drive is able to write dual layer DVDs, and not every drive has support for LightScribe.More about this

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