NEC ND-3500A Quickie Preview

[Spazmogen]

Something tells me that Herrie and TDB will be fixing the rip speed locks, and cranking up write speeds on some media too.

I was thinking the same thing
Of course it will be an auto-reset firmware no doubt.

Ian: Thanks for the mini review/test results. I MUST hold off trying to buy one. My wife will kick me in the junk if I buy another drive.

[hoxlund]

I MUST hold off trying to buy one. My wife will kick me in the junk if I buy another drive.

you mean right squaww inna junk?

[dhc014]

Something tells me that Herrie and TDB will be fixing the rip speed locks, and cranking up write speeds on some media too.

Halfway there: http://tdb.rpc1.org/#ND3500A Now it's up to Herrie.

They've posted a patched 2.16, but it is possible that 2.06 and 2.16 are identical except for their intended "audiences" and maybe their bitsetting settings similar to what happened for the 2510A. I think that an excellent section to include in a review would be comparison among firmwares, at least bitsetting support in the different firmwares. It's very difficult to put the information in a place where it's very easy to find.

Maybe someone could send TDB version 2.06

[Ian]

They've posted a patched 2.16, but it is possible that 2.06 and 2.16 are identical except for their intended "audiences"

They are for the most part. I asked NEC about it and the scheme for the firmware is this:

2.xy

x - customer
y - revision of the firmware

So yeah, the 2.16, 2.26, etc.. is essentially the same as 2.06.

[dvdevil]

it's for sale here in holland for 90 euro's

[code65536]

Wow, nice drive. Certainly seems to be doing better than the 1633S. I wonder how it fares at 8x? The recordable read speeds are pretty impressive, too.

[aviationwiz]

Certainly seems to be doing better than the 1633S.

Well, that's a given.

[Ian]

Thanks to ClayBuster, I was able to run a few more tests with TY's 8x DVD+R media.

I ran this test 3x and I could not eliminate the speed drop at the end. At least the writing time was better this time around.



Notice that the PI errors jump up a little where the speed drop took place. Still not too bad though.



And here's a screenshot from PlexTools (2x CLV - High Accuracy). Here too, you can see that the PI errors jump up near the end.



Avg Max Total
PIE 0.49 75 70564
POF - - 0

[rdgrimes]

Looks like the OPC scheme is doing a good job, slowing the speed may well have prevented a coaster. I wish LiteOn/MTK could figure out how to do that.

[Ian]

A couple more screenshots...

Remember the 13x CAV mode I mentioned?



I got that by setting the writing speed to 12x in CD Speed. I was expecting it to write at 12x using Z-CLV.

Thinking of using Ritek DL media with the ND-3500A? You might want to think again. The discs aren't recognizable by the drive.

[beach-hobo]

P.S. NewEGG has them in stock as of yesterday !!!

[tigen]

Can this drive read from the lead in and lead out? (for DAE).

[norbertofh]

Is there any difference between the retail and the bulk version? In the case of the Pioneer, they look like different models, but I don't know about this NEC drive.

[Wesociety]

Is there any difference between the retail and the bulk version?

Not that I'm aware of.

It is also worthy to note that the 2.F8 firmware released for the MadDog OEM version of this drive now has Ritek DL support.
The official NEC version should follow soon, also with Ritek DL support.

[Ian]

The official NEC version should follow soon, also with Ritek DL support.

We hope... That firmware was specially done for Mad Dog.

[ItalianJob]

The official NEC version should follow soon, also with Ritek DL support.

What about the NEC ND-2510A ?

[Wesociety]

The official NEC version should follow soon, also with Ritek DL support.

What about the NEC ND-2510A ?

That is coming soon too!

[alexnoe]

Thinking of using Ritek DL media with the ND-3500A? You might want to think again. The discs aren't recognizable by the drive.

Good. That will prevent people from making coasters with crap discs

[ItalianJob]

The official NEC version should follow soon, also with Ritek DL support.

What about the NEC ND-2510A ?

That is coming soon too!

Ok ok ! I keep on waiting ! I hope Traxdata (RitekD01) DL will fall down since Verbatim (MKM01) DL can be found at a relatively low price now (4.98£ ~7.30€) @ http://www.lynxdv.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=23_51

[alexnoe]

Taiyo Yuden 8x -R (Plextor) are written at 12x

[Vanderlow]

CDRinfo.com did a review of the NEC-3500A

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews ... &PageId=24

Summary:

- The Good

Very good DVD error correction capabilities
Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)
Supports audio protected discs
Excellent CD writing quality at 32X with low Jitter values
Very good Single Layer DVD writing quality
High C2% accuracy
Fast recording with Double Layer media
Very good writing quality with Double Layer media
Can read/rip 90min Audio CDs
Can overburn up to 88min CDs

- The Bad

Poor CD error correction
Slow ripping CSS DVD-Video performance
DAE speed only up to 32X
Mount Rainier is not supported
Cannot recognize 99min Audio CD's
Cannot create working backups with SafeDisc protected games over v2.60
Cannot overburn DVD recordable media
Medium CD writing quality at 48X
Does not support Traxdata Double Layer media

- Like To be fixed

Official firmware release to support booktype setting for +R/+RW media
Better writing quality with 48X CD-R media
Traxdata Double Layer media support

[alexnoe]

Traxdata Double Layer media support

What is that obsession with Ritek crap DVD+R DL media?

BTW, don't know what they did, but the NEC 3500 i am having here in my own PC only recognises TDK 8x DVD-R media (TTG02) as 8x compatible. So I have no clue how they wrote 16x to it. And yeah, these discs are crap. The Plextor 712 kills them at 8x, the Pioneer A08 tries at 12x but kills them at that speed, the LG 4120B has them only its black crap disc list and only allows 4x writing to them...but maybe TTH01 are different TDK 8x discs than TTG02 grrrr

[Vanderlow]

Gee does this thread really have 22,000 views?

[dolphinius_rex]

Gee does this thread really have 22,000 views?

It was the first peek at the NEC 3500 worth looking at... I wouldn't be too surprised!

[TCAS]

For complete, comprehensive and technical detail of NEC ND-3500AG see the following article at this link.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews ... leId=10711