Scan Quality Comparison: Samsung S203B vs LiteON LH-20A1P

Earlier today I was trying to figure out if my Samsung would be a good scanner and I found information that the answer is "yes, after a small registry hack" but I wasn't able to find any comparative examples (this is what I was looking for)

Anyway, here's a comparison of the same disc on my LiteON versus my Samsung. Pretty similar, especially in PIF Counts.

While it appears that the Samsung might report slightly lower than true PIE counts (assuming the LiteON is the better scanner) the results are very similar.

Hopefully this information helps someone else who is wondering what I was wondering.

One more example of the scan comparisons between my two drives on a "bad" burn (this is an OfficeMax DVD-R)


Once again, while the PIE charts dont agree so much they do show some trends - and the PIF charts are similar.

I am definitely not going to hesitate using my Samsung for scanning! What a nice all around drive!

thanx

maybe try these too,

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=639
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=640
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=641
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=642
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=643

Thanks Mac, guess I didn't look hard enough for em

You're most welcome, I did all the scans at 8x though.

Thanks for this! I was wondering if my S182M was the only Sammy to have scans at 8x agree with Litey scans at 4x [roughly]. Now I know it's not just a fluke, and that some other models do this, too. It also reassures me that, should I get a S203B to "replace" my S182M, there won't be that much of a difference in scans.

I am reviving this thread....

At first I was totally sold on my Samsung being "roughly" equivalent in scanning to my LiteON but over the past week I've been noticing some strange results.

It seems that quality scans on my Samsung and LiteON are very, very close on discs burnt on other drives (such as my LG and or Pioneer Drives) but for discs burnt on my Samsung, the Samsung and LiteON Drives usually don't agree.

If I listen to the Liteon, my Samsung burnt discs are crap. If I listen to my Samsung drive, they rock.

Anyone else been noticing this? Who do I believe? Its so hard to figure out because discs burnt on other drives come through SO similar, its just discs burnt on the Samsung.




Check the scans below

Also, if often seems that scans become more similar as they progress, its just the beginning where the results are way different, and once again - only on discs burnt on the Samsung - not a problem when doing comparitive scans on discs burnt on my other drives.

Check these comparative scans below


Also, for troubleshooting I've tried:
- Scans at different speeds
- Moving the LiteON to another machine

It would *seem* that either the Samsung can not be trusted to scan discs burnt by itself, or the LiteON can not be trusted to scan discs burnt by the Samsung - yet they can both scan discs burnt by other drives.

8X scans, IMHO, have always been problematic on the Lite-On LH-20A1P and 20A1H (elevated PIF's at the start). My new Lite-On DH-20A3P, however scans very similar to the Samsung SH-S203B @ 8X. Incidently, both track fairly close to Plextor scans in PlexTools.

I agree, try scanning at 4x with your 20A1P. I trust my 18A1P at 4x but it is wacky at 8x on the startup just like your last post.

I never have had any problems playing Video DVD's scanned at 4x, if it looks like a good scan it's skip free if it looks bad it always skips many times during the video.

Wow you guys are good.


So it turns out that scanning at 8x on my Samsung <> Scanning at 4x on my Liteon.

Two scans below to prove it. Not exactly the same, but much much closer than above. If I scan at 4x on my Samsung the results are even closer.


Yet another reason to love my Samsung! I can scan 2x as fast