New Samsung Blu-ray Combo Does 12x

By Kevin Parrish
published

Samsung's new internal Blu-ray combo drive offers speeds up to 12x for BD-ROMs.

Monday Samsung announced that it launched a new internal Blu-ray disc Combo drive--the SH-B123--that offers BD-ROM speeds of up to 12x. Currently this is the world's fastest for Blu-ray discs, and the drive also promises read speeds of up to 48X for CDs and up to 16X for DVDs. Bundled software allows users to watch HD movies on the PC, record HDTV broadcasting and HD camcorder movies onto DVDs, and even upscale a DVD's current resolution to HD.

"The new BD combo guarantees high reliability in BD play performance by utilizing two lenses and a two laser diode structure, which provide stable BD read, and DVD and CD read/ write performance," the company said. "SACT (Spherical Abberation Compensation Technology) improves the quality of the read function on BD drives if the protective layer does not have a uniform thickness. In addition, PSCT (Precision Step Control Technology) optimizes position control for the optical pick-up feature that requires small track pitch of BD drives."

Samsung also said that its Firmware Live Update service ensures users that they always have the latest BD drive firmware version. The SH-B123 is actually eco-friendly, and sports an Aerodynamic Frame Design for low acoustic noise. It also operates at a low-power consumption level--25-percent lower than comparable drives on the market.

Samsung's new BD combo, the SH-B123, is available worldwide in July 2010.

Kevin Parrish
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • digitalrazoe
    ... and this device costs.... $
    Reply
  • jryan388
    How many MB/s is 12x bd-rom anyway?
    Reply
  • foscooter
    The bundled software will allow BD play? For how much?

    Even THG recommend Lite-On BD/DVD for $99.00 needs the BD software for another $99.00, depending on hardware seteup and OS. Crashman says Windows 7 in required for Lite-On software.

    Hope this one doesn't, for under $200.00.
    Reply
  • backin5
    jryan388How many MB/s is 12x bd-rom anyway?
    54 MB/s
    Reply
  • yang
    ya i care a lot about the price before knowing all that fancy features
    Reply
  • dEAne
    Bundled software huh, This is good news - One day the DVD will be out for good then BLU RAy then what next.
    Reply
  • ordcestus
    dEAneBundled software huh, This is good news - One day the DVD will be out for good then BLU RAy then what next.Theres a good chance it'll have more in common with an sd card than a disc. or we'll just have super efficient ways to layer blu rays
    Reply
  • lukeeu
    ordcestusTheres a good chance it'll have more in common with an sd card than a disc. or we'll just have super efficient ways to layer blu rays There are holographic disc drives that have capacity of 1TB and read 1024 bits at a time instead of 1. But I hope the industry will move in a direction of selling intellectual property (iTunes,last.fm,steam, walk into wallmart with a pendrive...) instead of selling movies locked to super encrypted disk in a box..
    Reply
  • ordcestus
    lukeeuThere are holographic disc drives that have capacity of 1TB and read 1024 bits at a time instead of 1. But I hope the industry will move in a direction of selling intellectual property (iTunes,last.fm,steam, walk into wallmart with a pendrive...) instead of selling movies locked to super encrypted disk in a box..I hadn't heard of those disk drives but they sound interesting. I don't mind the idea of a movie being sold on disc because its convenient for stores. However i will agree about the overkill reaction to pirates involving encryption and other DRM measures.
    We need steam for movies and we need to be able to walk into wal-mart and pick up a movie.
    Reply
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