We review one of ASUS’ latest external optical drive combo’s the SBC-06D1S-U. A very desirable looking drive which would grace any desktop, it combines Blu-ray reading at 6x speed with full DVD/RW writing capabilities.
Product on Review: ASUS External Slim Blu-ray Disc Combo SBC-06D1S-UManufacturer and Sponsor: ASUS
MSRP: Estimated RRP £150
As reported in our News section on 15th February ASUS have launched two new external optical drives. ASUS have very kindly provided us with the SBC-06D1S-U to review today.
ASUS are a hugely successful company known for their innovative product design and industry leading quality in the world of 3C (Computers, Communications and Consumer Electronics). Let’s take a look at one of their latest external optical drives and see if it continues their excellent pedigree.
Here’s what ASUS say about the SBC-06D1S-U:
ASUS SBC-06D1S-U—Fastest Speeds and Innovative Video Enhancement
The ASUS SBC-06D1S-U external slim-type optical disc drive performs at six times the standard Blu-ray reading speed. It features True Theater High Definition (TTHD) technology, a pioneering suite of advanced video enhancements that delivers unmatched HD quality for DVD playback on PC-based home theater systems. The result is sharper video, significant decrease in background noise, and enhanced aliasing for a smoother image.
The ASUS SBC-06D1S-U also comes with the peace of mind afforded by comprehensive and flexible data protection. Disc encryption allows users to protect an entire disc or even individual files with a pre-determined password. Additionally, users can choose to hide files to prevent data from being tampered with.
The intuitive drag and burn interface that accompanies the new drive takes the hassle out of data backup and media storage. Extremely easy to pick up and use, the interface reduces what would traditionally be a six-step process down to just three easy steps.
The ASUS SBC-06D1S-U external slim-type optical disc drive performs at six times the standard Blu-ray reading speed. It features True Theater High Definition (TTHD) technology, a pioneering suite of advanced video enhancements that delivers unmatched HD quality for DVD playback on PC-based home theater systems. The result is sharper video, significant decrease in background noise, and enhanced aliasing for a smoother image.
The ASUS SBC-06D1S-U also comes with the peace of mind afforded by comprehensive and flexible data protection. Disc encryption allows users to protect an entire disc or even individual files with a pre-determined password. Additionally, users can choose to hide files to prevent data from being tampered with.
The intuitive drag and burn interface that accompanies the new drive takes the hassle out of data backup and media storage. Extremely easy to pick up and use, the interface reduces what would traditionally be a six-step process down to just three easy steps.
ASUS SBC-06D1S-U
Read on to find out more…
Features and Specifications
The SBC-06D1S-U in the left-hand column is the model on review here todayAs you can see the SBC-06D1S-U is a very capable device being able to read just about every type of disc currently available today and also able to write to all flavours of CD/DVD disc. The Blu-ray read speed has been beefed up to an impressive 6x which has surely got to be the current record for any external slim-line reader. And talking of slim-line – just look at those dimensions! Only 21mm thick! This really is a supremely skinny drive for all that functionality.
System Requirements
OS: Windows XP; Vista or Windows 7
Processor: Pentium D945 (3.4GHz) or higher
Memory: 1GB or more is recommended
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT or ATI X1600 series or above
Use HDCP compatible display and VGA card to get High Definition digital output
Packaging and Contents
ASUS as always have packaged the SBC-06D1S-U in an attractive glossy blue box with plenty of information on all sides.
The box front gives all the basic information about the device along with a large Blu-ray logo to leave you in no doubt as to it’s capabilities. An angled picture of the drive shows just how thin it really is, and the casually scattered diamonds around it’s base are a clear reference to ASUS’ design aesthetics with both the clean lines of the drive and the blue led cross on the front side. There is also information on the write and read speeds for the most common disc types.
The rear of the box has information in 8 different languages about 6 of the major features of the drive and software which we will look into in greater detail later in this review. There is a diagram of the package contents and a list of system requirements.
One side of the box has a very brief general description of the device in 20 languages, the other side has all the part and serial number identification bar codes. The top and bottom of the box are basically cut-down versions of the front.
On opening the box you find more information behind the front flap, this time to the left there is a screen-shot and brief description of the included BluTuner software (used to control the led brightness) and to the right a diagram detailing how to mount the drive into the included stand.
The drive itself is well packaged in a protective sleeve and securely held in dense foam ends with the user manual and software disc beneath it, and inside the small cardboard section to the right of the drive is the included USB ‘Y’ cable and the stand.
The first thing you notice on unpacking the drive is it’s gorgeous piano black gloss finish. It is protected by a tear-off plastic cover as are most things these days, and unfortunately once this has been removed it becomes a fingerprint and dust magnet all too soon.
The USB ‘Y’ cable is a neat touch as it does away with the need for an external power supply which is a massive boon for a portable device such as this one. ASUS recommend that you plug in both USB connectors to the computer you are attaching the device to as they will provide sufficient power for the whole device. The only downside of this is that there is only about 10cm between the two USB connectors so you do really need to have two spare USB ports close together – taking one port from either side of a laptop would not be an option – (there is mention in the Quick Installation Guide of an optional extra extension lead that you can get should you not have two USB’s close enough to use together.) Overall cable length is about 45cm which should be sufficient for most and means there isn’t loads of spare cable to hide away.
A Closer Look
The drive has a very nice feel and weight to it – it is not too heavy but has a decent solidity which speaks volumes about the quality of it’s construction and hopefully bodes well for operational silence!
At 157 x 142 x 21mm the SBC-06D1S-U is only 37mm longer and 22mm wider than a standard 12cm disc, and as already stated at 21mm thick (or 21mm thin should that be?) it is about as skinny as it’s surely possible to make a tray-loading external drive. The front has the same diamond blue led design as did ASUS’ previous top-end model the SBC-04D1S-U and a silver ASUS logo.
On the back the drive has small rubber patches in each corner to ensure stability when in use flat, but I suspect most will opt to use the included stand as it does show the drive off rather better (and when it looks this good why not?!)
The drive is easily mounted in just a few seconds onto the stand by removing a rubber plug from the back and then pressing the stand’s latch into the exposed recess. Once mounted it is extremely secure as the entire base of the stand is a large rubber pad which gives excellent grip and anti-vibration properties.
To the rear we see the standard Class 1 Laser Product warning sticker common to all optical drives and serial number details etc. You can also see the four rubber pads on corners of the main body of the drive.
To the left hand side we have the tray drawer with the silver eject button and just above the button there are 3 tiny green activity led’s. There is also the standard small hole for manual eject should that be needed.
To the right hand side there is… a mini-USB socket and that’s it – remember there’s no external power supply needed here!
Software
There is an extensive software package included with the SBC-06D1S-U including a suite from CyberLink, and several ASUS utilities to maximise the drives capabilities and efficiency.On loading the disc an installer screen gives four main choices of software to load along with a Firmware Update button and a link to the Quick Installation Guide. Clicking the top left link will open the CyberLink software suite installer screen.
The CyberLink software suite is pretty well known these days being a bundled option for a lot of optical drives.
CyberLink PowerDVD includes their True Theater HD (TTHD) technology which upscales normal definition DVD’s to output on high-def displays (note: this requires either NVIDIA CUDA or ATI STREAM hardware acceleration technology – see here for details)
PowerBackup a powerful and robust tool for protecting your data.
InstantBurn which allows the user to operate an optical disc burner as if it were another hard drive or a huge floppy disk.
Power2Go allows drag and drop burning and securing data with passwords and encryption.
ASUS’ utility to control the brightness of the front blue led cross.
ASUS’ utility showing power saving and CO2 reductions achieved. This is a nice touch and it’s good to see more people providing a facility to monitor carbon footprints in these environmentally concious times.
The last piece of software is ASUS’ Turbo Engine which apparently optimises the connection between the PC and the drive to give the best possible performance. Once installed there are no user configurable options so there is no program to run except the uninstaller.
Testing
The SBC-06D1S-U is fully plug and play and when installed on either my laptop or desktop was detected by Windows 7 as both an ‘ASUS SBC-06D1S-U USB Device’ and as a generic ‘USB Mass Storage device’.All the bundled software was installed without a hitch and all worked flawlessly.
I tested the drive for both it’s writing and reading capabilities attached to an HP Compaq 6715b Business Notebook and also to my desktop PC.
Laptop Specifications
AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 2GHz processor
AMD M690T chipset
ATI Radeon X1250 graphics
2048MB DDR2 RAM
30GB OCZ Vertex SSD
DVD/RW SuperMulti Drive
15.4” WSXGA+ TFT (1680 x 1050 pixels)
Desktop Specifications
Intel Core i7 920 processor @ 4.2GHz
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 motherboard
6GB OCZ Blade 2000MHz C9 DDR3 RAM (3 x 2048MB)
ATI Radeon 4870×2 2GB graphics
120GB OCZ Vertex SSD
LG GGC-H20L SuperMulti Blu-ray drive
NEC MultiSync 24WMGX3 24” TFT (1920 x 1200 pixels)
I had intended to fully test the drive on my laptop but as it’s graphics is an ATI X1250 it is below the recommended spec and so Blu-ray testing was carried out whilst attached to my desktop only.
In testing the SBC-06D1S-U’s DVD writing capabilities I used a sample set of data which comprised a mixture of digital photographs, music, and general data files (PDF’s, Word docs etc). Since the ASUS drive’s maximum writing speed for single layer DVD-R’s is 8x all tests were done at this speed to allow for a direct comparison of the results.
The total volume of this sample set was: 11 folders, 1052 items, 2.67GB
Results:
Laptop – SuperMulti: 7m 0s
SBC-06D1S-U: 8m 0s
Desktop – SuperMulti: 5m 30s
SBC-06D1S-U: 8m 0s
These results show that the ASUS drive may suffer slightly for it’s USB connection but it’s only really against the desktop’s internal drive that this is at all apparent, and that it gives a very good showing against the internal SuperMulti drive of the laptop. There was no hint of any problems with the writing process and all the created DVD’s were tested as perfectly readable.
Blu-ray playback was then tested on the desktop system and there was very little to choose between the internal and external drives – the only area where I thought the internal drive had the edge was in the length of time it took the drive to initialise and read the disk and even that was a pretty close run thing. The actual picture quality was excellent as was the audio on both devices – if there were any discernable differences then they were beyond my ability to detect.
Normal DVD playback was tested using the included PowerDVD software and compared against Windows Media Player and I can honestly say that the PowerDVD with it’s upscaling True Theater High Definition feature really does make a difference. The picture did seem sharper and crisper although not as good as a genuine Blu-ray Hi-def source of course, but a worthwhile feature to have, albeit one which does need some fairly serious graphics power to process the images.
I did test for normal DVD playback on the laptop using Windows Media Player and have to say it was exceptionally good – there was no appreciable difference between the internal DVD drive and the SBC-06D1S-U so the USB connection doesn’t seem to cause any problems here either.
Throughout all of these tests and many hours of usage I also checked the drive for any sign of vibration or excessive noise and was pleasantly surprised on both counts. Whilst the drive does exhibit the normal noise during spinning-up once a disk is first inserted and is being read it quickly quietens down and in sustained use is no louder than a high quality 120mm case fan at full tilt (I have several Noctua NF-P12 fans and in my opinion the SBC-06D1S-U is about as loud as one of those). It would therefore not be at all intrusive to use this drive attached to a large screen for movie viewing.
Conclusion
ASUS already had a very good product in the older (and slower) SBC-04D1S-U which was touted as the World\’s first External Slim BD Combo drive and they have absolutely succeeded in improving on that with this the SBC-06D1S-U.
Sleek, shiny, desirable!
The drive is superbly crafted, it\’s sleek looks simply oozes quality and from the moment you take it out of the box you know you have something which will perform as flawlessly as does any other ASUS product, and also will be the envy of your friends. Add to that the simply amazing functionality of this device and the attention to detail such as not needing an external power supply for this portable drive and ASUS are surely on to a winner!
It is testament to ASUS\’ philosophy of continual design improvement that they have brought out this new addition to their optical drive range and it is a worthy contender for the title of \’World\’s BEST External Slim Blu-ray Disc Combo\’.
ASUS SBC-06D1S-U is a deserving winner of Vortez Hardware\’s Gold Award!
Pros
+ Slim design
+ Sleek looks
+ USB Powered
+ Superb Software package
Cons
– None
We would like to thank ASUS for this sample. Discuss this review on our forums
