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Thanks to some new friends at NEC, I was able to get my hands on an ND-3500A. Here are a few screenshots. Hopefully they'll hold you over until the full review.





Aside from a packet of specs, I don't have a lot of info on the drive yet. I really want a list of supported media. From my early tests, I can tell you that there isn't a lot of media that will work at 16x with the drive.

The only DVD+R media I found that would work at 16x was YUDEN000T02 (Taiyo Yuden 8x). Everything else I tried wrote at 8x or slower.



Here's a graph of it writing at 16x. Note the drop at the end. I would have retested, but this was my last TY disc. I'd have more, but alas its backordered everywhere.



For some reason, the drive took 6:41. Over at PC Watch, it took them only 6:02. It could be due to the different firmware versions. Who knows.

KProbe 2.2.3 - read at 4x with PI 8 and PIF 1



Better than I expected, but not great either. Let's see if the PIF errors cause any problems in the read back tests.

With the ND-3500A:



With a Lite-On 166S (hacked firmware):



No problems in both cases.

More screenshots coming up...

I see why PC Watch didn't post any screenshots of the drive writing to DVD-R media at 16x. I tried 8x DVD-R media from about 6 different manufacturers. None of it worked at 16x and the only stuff that worked at 12x was the media from Verbatim.



As you can see, the ND-3500A switches to Z-CLV when writing at 12x (and 8x).



I should also mention that writing at 12x was a little flakey. The first time I tried it, it failed at the speed change. Also, simulating doesn't work, at least with CD Speed.

Once again, here are a few writing quality tests. Same settings as before.



Damn good KProbe results. Count the number of PIF errors. Yes.. 3.

Reading with the ND-3500A



Reading with the Lite-On 166S

Lastly we have DVD+R DL media. Like the Pioneer 108, the ND-3500A can write to 2.4x DL media at 4x.



The drive wrote an entire DVD in 26:41. This is quite an improvement over first gen DL drives.



And yes, the ND-3500A sets the book type to DVD-ROM for DL media automatically.

Where was the Verbatim disc made? Singapore I assume.

Amazing results!
I am particularly impressed with the DVD+R/-R transfer rate tests @16X CAV!
A DVD writer that reads faster (and better??) than a JMLS 166S!


One question; Did you check TYG02 DVD-R available write descriptors?
Is it limited to 12X ?

I'm *VERY* impressed

nothing... NOTHING compares to this

I"m also in trouble. Can't find many types of media that work at 16x.

I'm most impressed by that DVD-R burn and the ability to write 2.4x DVD+R DL discs at 4x.

I'm not all that impressed by the "16x" writing. A test I did with the PX-712A writing at 12x (due to outside variables, it never reached 12x) did it in 6:45, about the 16x speed for the 3500, I believe a proper 12x burn on the 712 is about 6:15, but I'd have to check again.

I'm waiting for the final review, looks like a promising drive.

wiz: Yeah, that's DataLifePlus from Singapore

wesociety: I didn't try TYG02. I need to order more of that too.

I wouldn't put too much faith into the drive's time at 16x. It should have been much lower. When I get more media I'll run it again.

Here are some writing quality results with Verbatim's DVD+R DL media.



I really didn't expect the PI/PIF rates to be that low especially since the drive is writing to 2.4x media at 4x.

Reading with the ND-3500A..



I gotta admit I'm a little disappointed by the drive's read speeds with DL media.

Reading with the SOHW-832S



Enjoy the pics. Time for bed...

aviationwiz wrote:I'm not all that impressed by the "16x" writing. A test I did with the PX-712A writing at 12x (due to outside variables, it never reached 12x) did it in 6:45, about the 16x speed for the 3500, I believe a proper 12x burn on the 712 is about 6:15, but I'd have to check again.

It's limitation set by rotation speed. Except for CLV, no Z-CLV, P-CAV or CAV will reach full speed until near the end so there shouldn't be big difference in burning time between 12X P-CAV and 16X CAV.

Oh, this drive looks great. Looks like NEC may have done something right,

aviationwiz wrote:Oh, this drive looks great. Looks like NEC may have done something right,

Yeah, and it looks like they won't need to release a critical firmware update to actually make their drive work properly, after several months of it being on the market either!

Thanks for the preview!
I HAVE to get this drive now.

When writing at 6x, can it write CLV all the way?

which are all the available writing speeds for this drive?
thanks

Very impressive !
DL@4X and DL default bitsetting to DVD-ROM is great !

Seems like NEC have outdone themselves again... makes me feel slighty annoyed at getting 2510 a couple of months ago (though I am very happy with that one).

I'm especially impressed with how low the errors are on that 4x +DL burn. And the drive's already available (and in stock) over here in the UK for only £65 (compared to £70 for the Pioneer 108). Bargain!

Here are the writing speeds, taken from the specs.

DVD+R: 16x CAV, 12x Z-CLV, 8x Z-CLV, 6x Z-CLV, 4x CLV, 2.4x CLV
Oddly enough, they also list 13x CAV
DVD+R DL: 4x CLV, 2.4x CLV
DVD+RW: 4x CLV, 2.4x CLV
DVD-R: 16x CAV, 12x Z-CLV, 8x Z-CLV, 6x Z-CLV, 4x CLV, 2 CLV
Here too they list 13x CAV
DVD-RW: 4x CLV, 2x CLV, 1x CLV

I dunno about these. CAV and Z-CLV?
CD-R: 48x CAV, 48x Z-CLV, 40x CAV, 40x Z-CLV, 32x CAV, 32x Z-CLV, 24x P-CAV, 24x Z-CLV, 16x CLV, 8x CLV
CD-RW: 24x Z-CLV, 16x CLV, 10x CLV, 4x CLV

impressive dvd r reading speed....a lot faster than 712a; possible winner for the 3rd qt 2004

Ian wrote:DVD+R: 16x CAV, 12x Z-CLV, 8x Z-CLV, 6x Z-CLV, 4x CLV, 2.4x CLV
Oddly enough, they also list 13x CAV
DVD+R DL: 4x CLV, 2.4x CLV
DVD+RW: 4x CLV, 2.4x CLV
DVD-R: 16x CAV, 12x Z-CLV, 8x Z-CLV, 6x Z-CLV, 4x CLV, 2 CLV
Here too they list 13x CAV
DVD-RW: 4x CLV, 2x CLV, 1x CLV

too bad 12x, 8x and 6x are Z-CLV and not P-CAV

Something tells me that Herrie and TDB will be fixing the rip speed locks, and cranking up write speeds on some media too. Looks like NEC has done it again. Setting the standard for true quality and value.

A couple of slightly more general questions... it seems that 16x will be the fastest for DVD+/-R. What's the situation for DVD+/-RW? It's still only at 4x... will we be seeing 8x drives anytime soon?

And is there any chance of getting 8x DL, and some -DL drives soon?