CDRLabs.com

Thanks to TCAS for pointing this out to me..

http://www.de.nec.de/software/1745_FW_N ... win218.zip

Changelog:

http://www.de.nec.de/faq_detail.php/id/ ... 4/lang/GER

The DvD+R medias below will be recognized with firmware 2.18, but be
informed, they won`t be added to our list of recommend medias because
there is no guarantee for optimal burn results and performance.

DVD+R9 Double Layer
Max Write Speed 2.4x
Ricoh
Ritek
CMC
PHILIPS

DvD+R
Max Write Speed 16x
TDK
SONY
MBI (16X)

Max Write Speed 12x
Ricoh
SONY
PRODISC
DAXON(ACER)
CMC (16X)

Max Write Speed 8x
RITEK (NEW 8X)
Lead Data
Digital Disc Dessau(8X)
MBI
MAM-E ADVANCED MEDIA 8x

Max Write Speed 4x
MAM-E ADVANCED MEDIA 4x
SAST 4X

DvD+RW
none added

DvD-R
Max Write Speed 16x
TDK
SONY
MBI
FUJI
OPTO DISC16X
MAXELL 16x
BEALL 16X
PRODISC 16X
CMC 16X
YUDEN

Max Write Speed 8x
OPTODISC
LG
BeALL
Plasmon
King Pro
MBI
DAXON
DST
INFO DISC
UL-TRAN
e TOP
Gigastorage
AMC
inter axia
3A Media
Lead Data
MUST
LONGTEN
MAM-E ADVANCED MEDIA 8X
RITEK (G Type)
Gigastorage 8x

Max Write Speed 4x
e TOP
OCTOPLUS
Thai Media
4M SYSTEMS
info source
RITEK (8cm)
Wing Shing

Max Write Speed 2x
Lead Data 8cm
Princo

DvD-RW
Max Write Speed 2x
INFOMEDIA
PRINCO

CD-R
Max Write Speed 48x
MITSUI

CD-RW
none added

I found this comment in the readme.txt to be interesting:

-You can only update from official Firmwareversion 2.16.
(the firmware 2.17 was no official nec release!)

I loaded the 2.16 backon from dos loader then used the official 2.18 flasher on german nec site it only bitsets DL media but its strat are much newer and the fw date is 11/05/2004

now all I need is firmware version 2.08...

@dolphinius_rex
Never heard of BINFLASH??????????

Ok....I'm a little confused. Currently I'm using 2C8 SE. The way I am reading NECs change log, 2.18 still doesn't allow booktype seting. If I understand correctly, this feature is supported by NEC's official firmware realeases for it's rebaged drives. Why wouldn't they release their most sofisticated firmware for their branded drives? Also, is their any advantage with regards to write strategies with the new officail realease compared to the 2C8 SE that I am currently using? Is their any reason for me to use 2.18?

2C8 SE isn't an official release. Most likely, it's a firmware created for an OEM that leaked out. The booksetting stuff is requested by the OEM's. No idea why NEC doesn't do that to their own drives...

Here's a comparison of the two firmware, thanks to pinto2 of CD Freaks (http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=113979):

NEC K350GN8M, aka 2.18
CD-R version: 1.25
CD-RW version: 1.24
DVD-R version: 1.40
DVD-RW version: 1.35
DVD+R version: 1.58g
DVD+RW version: 1.37
DVD+R9 version: 1.26

"RiTEK 4X DL" aka 2.C8_SE
CD-R version: 1.24
CD-RW version: 1.24
DVD-R version: 1.37
DVD-RW version: 1.33
DVD+R version: 1.55t
DVD+RW version: 1.37
DVD+R9 version: 1.24r

As you can see, the 2.18 firmware has newer writing strategies for everything but DVD+RW and CD-RW.

GrrRon: dolphinius_rex is doing a review of an external drive that uses an OEM 3500A (2.06 firmware). He's been trying to get an official update from the company, rather than some random one off the web.

GrrRon wrote:@dolphinius_rex
Never heard of BINFLASH??????????

As Ian says, it's not that I'm incapable of flashing the drive, I just require an official firmware release for the review

dolphinius_rex wrote:

GrrRon wrote:@dolphinius_rex
Never heard of BINFLASH??????????

As Ian says, it's not that I'm incapable of flashing the drive, I just require an official firmware release for the review

Aha!!!!
I thought it was strange.
I'll hope Nec bring out an official release soon.

I like reading test reviews.

Ian wrote:I found this comment in the readme.txt to be interesting:

-You can only update from official Firmwareversion 2.16.
(the firmware 2.17 was no official nec release!)

Odd. I just downloaded 2.17 off of the necusa oem website earlier today. I havent flashed yet though.

The firmware on NEC USA is older than the one from Germany. As a matter of fact, the readme file from the german 2.18 states that 2.17 is NO OFFICIAL NEC release. I think that 2.17 was released to some testers for update purposes...but as Ian stated earlier...the writing strategies are newer on 2.18...you can get it here:

http://www.de.nec.de/softwareoverview2.php/id/557

Bob

Yeah, I mentioned that to NEC USA. They said there's was "different". Which in other words means older...

Ian wrote:Yeah, I mentioned that to NEC USA. They said there's was "different". Which in other words means older...

It sounds like NEC is only slightly more organized then the company I work for is

If it were my company, people would have claimed 2.17 and 2.18 were actually the same

So has anyone tried updating from 2.17 to 2.18? They say it doesn't work, but they also say it won't work on an oem drive (whatever).

I never saved 2.16 when I flashed 2.17.

Their customer support doesn't come off as very supportive.

2.18 does not work on my OEM drive...

I think you will have to downgrade to 2.16 before upgrading to 2.18 though. You can probably find the tools and/or firmware to do this at www.rpc1.org

dolphinius_rex wrote:

Ian wrote:Yeah, I mentioned that to NEC USA. They said there's was "different". Which in other words means older...

It sounds like NEC is only slightly more organized then the company I work for is

If it were my company, people would have claimed 2.17 and 2.18 were actually the same

According to Quikee2 posted in another site:

TCAS: there is no difference between TDB 2.18 & 2.18 SE.. they are just official 2.18 firmware with riplock removed & RPC1.. you can flash directly to any firmware you want if you use Liggy's BinFlash or any other non official flash program. =)

Ok. Nero shows that I have a ND-3500AG w/ firmware v2.17. Will I be able to update it with the newest firmware? Also, what benefits are there in this new firmware? Thanks.

With Binflash Win32 GUI you can flash to every .exe (auto install firmware) or .bin (firmware alone) coming from any clone (TDK 1616n, MadDog16X) on your NEC 3500.

As written, 2.18 supports more DL mediacode than 2.17 does (CMC MAG DL, RITEK DL, PHILIPS DL, etc.).

You can analyze firmware version & max speed per media with the excellent Necdump0.8B2 tool (by Quikee) :
http://www.micheldeboer.nl/firmware/NecDump08B2.rar

I was looking for a new DVD writer with 4x/5xDL writing, the NEC3500 must be a retail (mentioned in the 2.18 FW readme.txt) for possible upgrading.

Now I found this at NEC.DE:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Gibt es einen Unterschied zwischen ND-25x0, ND-3500 und ND-25x0A, ND-3500A?
Was bedeutet das A?

Es wird nur die "A" Variante als Retail & Bulk verkauft.(Auch wenn im Angebot nur ND-XX00 ohne "A" steht!) Eine andere Version des ND-1x00A/ ND-25x0A / ND-3500A gibt es nicht. Die Information bzgl. Grauimporte betraf nur den ND-1100A. Sie finden diese hier. "
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Is there a difference between ND-3500 and ND-3500A?
What means the A?

There will only be the "A" variant sold as RETAIL&BULK.(Another version will not be sold, only as ND-3500A !
Grey import possible only for the ND-1100A.

So I was afraid that the bulk package was not possible to Upgrade to 2.18
0fficial FW release, so the sky is cleared !


Harry

There's no difference between NEC ND-3500 & 3500A, it's just a shorter naming. The recognized name under Windows is even NEC ND-3500AG !

You can flash official f/w 2.18 over any NEC 3500 drive with 2.16 firmware.

Tanto grazie ItalianJob, now I already know.

grazie anyway, today I've studied the forum about NEC's FW's.
I read also a lot at CD Freaks forum, overthere they almost don't nothing else as scanning the CD-DVDspeed of every new and unknown DVD+DL media

But this facts about the type number I read at first last night at NEC.DE site... in every trademark comes mostly different types, bulk/OEM/retail
and I wanted to know for sure.

Are you really Italian?

Harry (I'm married to an Italiana)

You're welcome, tanto preggo !

[off]Basically, my pseudo comes from a movie

But in the fact, I'm half Italian (from my father), and I live and I was born in Paris.

For english people here, can you keep J. Chirac in London for a (long)while We don't need him much here...
[/off]

Nice, the city of lights...

From the first or the last movie ?, the last was great !
I have that one on DVD.

HardwareHarry wrote:Nice, the city of lights...

From the first or the last movie ?, the last was great !
I have that one on DVD.

Last one with Charlize Theron... + nice shoots of Venice, the city of my father
I use this DVD a lot for quality encoding tests !

First movie - with Michael Caine I think - was very pleasant too.

ItalianJob wrote:[off]For english people here, can you keep J. Chirac in London for a (long)while We don't need him much here...[/off]