NEC ND-4550A Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM

Model: NEC ND-4550A 16x "Super-Multi" DVD±RW/RAM
Manufacturer: NEC Corporation
Provided By: NEC Solutions America

The NEC Corporation is one of Japan's oldest and most respected electronics firms. Founded more than a century ago, the company got its start by manufacturing communications equipment. As time went on, they expanded into other markets, adding electronic components and computer hardware to their product lineup. NEC is no stranger to the optical storage industry either. One of the world's leading manufacturers of optical drives, they offer a wide range of products for the OEM and retail markets.

This fall, NEC introduced their first "Super-Multi" drive, the ND-4550A. Featuring some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available, the drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL and 6x DVD-R DL writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Staying true to the "Super-Multi" specifications, the ND-4550A can also read and write to DVD-RAM media at 5x. This by itself is impressive. However, NEC's new drive also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 32x rewriting speeds and support for buffer underrun protection.

With features and specs like this, it's hard not to be impressed by NEC's new "Super-Multi" drive. To give you an idea of what to expect from the ND-4550A, we'll take a look at its features and then see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the ND-4550A have what it takes? Keep reading as we find out.

(Optimus Prime and Megatron not included)

The ND-4550A we received from NEC was an OEM version. The drive did not come with any software, cables or even a printed manual.

Physical Features:

The drive NEC sent us for this review was manufactured in August of 2005 and had firmware 1.06. For this review the drive's firmware has been updated to version 1.07.

The look of NEC's drives really hasn't changed much over the last few years. While they've gotten new features and faster speeds, the basic look has remained the same. As you can see, the ND-4550A is no exception. Aside from the new "Super-Multi" logo, there really isn't much of a difference between it and NEC's previous 16x DVD±RW drives.

Below the tray you can see the ND-4550A's single LED. It lights up green when the drive is both reading and writing.

The rear of the ND-4550A is pretty straightforward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and audio output connectors.

Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. By default the drive's jumper comes set to master. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector. To the left of this is the digital audio output.

Technical Specs:

Most of the specs below have been taken from NEC's website and by running a few simple tests:

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that NEC's new DVD writer is identified as a "_NEC DVD_RW ND-4550A".

The Nero screenshot also shows that the ND-4550A has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the drive can also write CD-Text and overburn. Unfortunately, like some of the other NEC based DVD writers we've tested, it wasn't able to recognize our 99 minute CompUSA discs at all.

NEC's new drive seems to be able to do EFM encoding correctly. Using CloneCD version 4.2.0.2 with AWS disabled, Iwas able to reproduce older SafeDisc 2 protected titles like Max Payne along with some protected by SafeDisc 2.51 like Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the ND-4550A's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the ND-4550A is a RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. A patched RPC-1 firmware can be downloaded here. Just keep in mind that it is not supported by NEC nor by CDRLabs. Use it at your own risk.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the ND-4550A's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while NEC's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.

The ND-4550A doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, using programs like CD Speed or Nero, you can set the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM." This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.

Like NEC's previous DVD writers, the ND-4550A isn't short on features. Their new "Super-Multi" drive not only supports all major DVD formats, it sports some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available. The ND-4550A is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL, 6x DVD-R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. On top of that, it can read and write DVD-RAM media at 5x. NEC's new drive also includes features like a 2MB buffer and support for some sort of buffer underrun protection, but lacks bitsetting support for single layer DVD+R and DVD+RW media. Even then, the NEC ND-4550A scores a solid 8 out of 10 for its features.

Installing NEC's new "Super-Multi" drive took only a couple of minutes. After taking the drive out of the box, I left the jumper set to master and installed it on the secondary IDE chain by connecting the IDE cable and power connector. When I turned on the computer the BIOS detected it as a drive supporting UDMA 33. The only thing left to do was to go into Device Manager and make sure DMA was enabled. With a drive like the ND-4550A, enabling DMA is very important, especially if you're looking to get the best reading and writing performance possible.

Documentation:

As I mentioned earlier, the drive we received from NEC did not come with any software or documentation. Fortunately, we were able to get a hold of a copy of the user's manual in PDF format. Similar to the ones included with NEC's previous drives, this manual covers a number of different topics. It starts out with a few pages worth of safety instructions. The manual continues on by going over the various buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the ND-4550A.The diagrams NEC has provided are clearly labeled and easy to understand.

From here, the manual jumps right into the installation process. While not the most elaborate instructions I've seen, it covers all the basics including how to set the jumpers, hook up the cables and install the drive in your computer. The manual also has a brief section on how to use the ND-4550A. It explains how to insert and eject DVD's and how to get a disc out of the drive in case of an emergency. Last but not least, it finishes up with a few pages worth of specifications and a list of recommended media.

Like the other NEC drives we've reviewed, the ND-4550A was very easy to install. Even with the basic manual I had, there were no problems getting the drive up and running. Just keep in mind that like with any OEM drive, it's up to the vendor as to whether or not you will receive any documentation or software. Overall I give the installation an 8 out of a possible 10.

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.10 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.10 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

NEC's new "Super-Multi" drive did pretty well in the CD Winbench portion of our tests. While the ND-4550A's overall score wasn't as high as some of the other drives, its transfer rates were quite good.It started reading at 20.4x (3060 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 43.5x (6400 / 150) on the outside. For whatever reason, its CPU utilization was a little on the high side.

CD Speed v4.10 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

	NEC ND-4550A	LG GSA-4167B	Sony DRU-810A	Plextor PX-716A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	35.60x 20.54x 47.09x	35.63x 20.45x 47.28x	36.39x 20.64x 48.13x	35.46x 20.50x 46.90x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	137ms 145ms 219ms	114ms 126ms 183ms	106ms 123ms 176ms	102ms 120ms 172ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	17% 1% 3% 6%	1% 1% 3% 36%	1% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 3%

When reading pressed CD's, the ND-4550A is rated at 48x. Unfortunately, like the GSA-4167B and the PX-716A, it came up short of this mark. In our tests, the drive started reading at a respectable 20.54x but reached a maximum transfer speed of only 47.09x.

CD Speed v4.10 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

Like the other drives, the ND-4550A was a little faster when reading CD-R media.Thanks to this small speed boost, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48x in our tests.

NEC's new DVD writer also had some trouble reading our 99 minute CompUSA media. If the session on the CD was larger than 90 minutes in size, the ND-4550A would not recognize the disc correctly. Using a disc with about 90 minutes worth of data, I was able to reach a maximum read speed of about 48.04x.

CD Speed v4.10 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.

While the ND-4550A can read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x, its CD-RW read speeds are limited to 40x. As you can see, it had no problem reaching this speed in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.10 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that while the NEC ND-4550A supports accurate stream and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD, it does not cache audio data.

CD Speed	NEC ND-4550A	LG GSA-4167B	Sony DRU-810A	Plextor PX-716A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	30.94x 17.99x 40.12x 10 Yes	30.81x 17.50x 40.79x 10 Yes	36.76x 20.90x 48.59x 10 Yes	31.45x 18.20x 41.55x 10 Yes

The ND-4550A did pretty well in our DAE tests. While not nearly as fast as the drive from Sony, it hadno problems reading pressed audio CD's at 40x.

To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.

While NEC's new DVD writer started out a little faster when extracting our test CD with CD DAE, its average and maximum speeds were slower than what we saw with CD Speed.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.10 - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

While the ND-4550A was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media, this didn't keep it from reaching amaximum DAE speed of 40x in our tests. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

NEC's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 29.17x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the ND-3540A was able to read the CD-Text and subchannel data but failed to read the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.

To see how well NEC's "Super-Multi" drive can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.

CD Speed - ScanDisc

The ND-4550A didn't handle scratched discs as well as some of the other DVD writers we've looked at recently. While there weren't any unreadable sectors on the disc, the drive considered more than 71% of the CD to be "damaged."

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.

The ND-4550A didn't do as well as some of the other drives in this test either. The scratches on the disc not only slowed it down considerably, the number of errors was higher than what we'd like to see.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16 andDLA 4.95:

For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

Like the other drives, the ND-4550A has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Verbatim's 52x media, the drive started writing at about 21.41x and reached a maximum speed of 48.00x at the end of the session. This gave NEC's new DVD±RW an average writing speed of about 36.36x.

To test the ND-4550A's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Verbatim DataLifePlus media rated at 52x. The results are below.

The ND-4550A did fairly well in our CD writing tests. While not as fast as the drives from Sony and Plextor, it was able to write an entire 650MB CD in 2:57.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Verbatim 52x

The ND-4550A's writing quality is very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the ND-4550A uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of four "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 20x and jumps to 24x at about the 5 minute mark. When it reaches the 13 minute mark, the drive changes to 28x and then to 32x at the 22 minute mark.

NEC's new DVD writer did very well in our rewriting tests. Thanks to its 32x rewriting speed, the ND-4550A took 2:04 to write 400MB with Nero and 1:59 to do the same with DLA.

The ND-4550A also erases at 32x. While it didn't have the fastest quick erase time out of the four drives here, it was able to do a full erase in an impressive 3:11.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The CD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

NEC's new drive wasn't as fast as some of the others when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. While it came very close, the ND-4550A once again had a hard time reaching its rated speed in our tests. Unfortunately, its seek times were also a little higher than we'd like to see.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.

When it comes to reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media, the ND-4550A is hard to beat. In our tests, the drive read DVD-RW discs at 13x and DVD-R media at an impressive 16x.

Verbatim DVD-R DL

The ND-4550A wasn't as fast when reading Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. As you can see, the drive started reading at 3.04x and reached a maximum transfer speed of only 7.29x. On top of that, its seek times were very high.

Maxell 5x DVD-RAM

NEC's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 5x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that it reads at this speed from start to finish. While this gave the ND-4550A the advantage in the transfer rate tests, its seek times were again quite high.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

The ND-4550A's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media. The drive read DVD+R discs at 16x and DVD+RW media at 13x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't a problem for the ND-4550A either. Unfortunately, with a maximum transfer speed of only 7.30x, it was the slowest out of the four drives here.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

The ND-4550A performed surprisingly well when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 6.49x and reached a maximum read speed of 15.82x. NEC's new drive was also fairly quick when reading dual layer discs. By looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive's transfer speeds peaked at about 11.89x.

To see how well the ND-4550A worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16 and DLA 4.95:

To test the DVD writing performance of NEC's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the ND-4550A uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that NEC's new drive starts writing at about 6.64x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed as it reaches the end of the disc.

As I've mentioned in the past, the dips in the graphs are not an indication of poor performance and/or writing quality. They're due to the ND-4550A's Active Optimized Power Control (Active OPC) technology. According to NEC, this system actively monitors writing power and reflection of the media in use. By doing so, the drive can calculate the optimum laser power and adjust it in real-time.

The ND-4550A also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.

NEC's new drive performed relatively well in our DVD writing tests. While its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage when writing to DVD-RW discs, the ND-4550A turned in some pretty good times with DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD+RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the ND-4550A, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SOHW-1673S (firmware JS07) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.

Looking at the graphs above, you can see that the results were fairly good with KProbe. Aside from a few isolated PIF spikes, the error rates remained relatively low. For whatever reason though, we saw a large PI/PIF/POF spike at the 2.25GB mark when testing with the DW1640. This happened with most of the DVD+R media we tried and the only way we found to eliminate it was to write at 8x or slower.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned with this spike, especially considering we didn't see anything like this with NEC's previous DVD writers. Nevertheless, it only showed up when testing with BenQ drives and it didn't seem to have any effect on the ND-4550A's ability to read the discs back.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. Aside from the PI/PIF spike, the results were pretty good for the most part. The only exception was TY's 8x media. While there weren't any PO Failures, the discs failed to complete our stress test, returning an error part way through.

Something to point out is that while the ND-4550A had no problems erasing DVD+RW discs at 8x, it erasedDVD-RW media at only 4x.

To test the ND-4550A's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.95. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media were used once again.

The ND-4550A's packet writing performance was pretty mixed. While the drive was fairly quick when writing to DVD+RW media, its DVD-RW writing speed was limited to only 4x, even when 6x media was used.

If you want to use DVD-RAM media with NEC's new "Super-Multi" drive, you will need to use a packet writing program like Sonic's DLA or Nero's InCD. As you can see, InCD gives you a number of formats to choose from. For our tests I chose to use UDF 2.0.

To test the drive's DVD-RAM speeds I copied and pasted the same 4GB of files used in our other DVD packet writing tests.

The ND-4550A did fairly well in our DVD-RAM writing tests. While not as fast as the GSA-4167B when writing our test data, it was the faster of the two drives when reading it back.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the ND-4550A, I used Verbatim 8x DVD+R DL, Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL, Memorex 2.4x DVD+R DL and Verbatim 4x DVD-R DL media. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

NEC's new drive had no problems writing to Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL media at 8x. The drive was also able to write to Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media at this speed, but only on the first layer. On the second layer, the writing speed was limited to only 6x. This was still better than Memorex's DVD+R DL media. These Ritek manufactured discs would not work at anything faster than 2.4x.

With Nero, it took the ND-4550A about 18:36 to write 8001MB of data. While faster than the drive from LG, it was more than three minutes slower than the DRU-810A. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality wasn't as good as I had expected with Verbatim's 8x and 2.4x DVD+R DL media. In both cases, the PI/PIF rates were higher than we'd like to see, especially when tested with the BenQ DW1640. Memorex's DVD+R DL media didn't fair any better. While written at a slower speed, the PI/PIF rates were still fairly high. Surprisingly enough, this didn't seem to have any effect on readability. As you can see, both drives had no problems reading the discs back.

The ND-4550A also features 6x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, DVD-R DL media from Verbatim was used.

With its Z-CLV writing method, the ND-4550A wasn't as fast as the PX-716A. Nevertheless, it took only 20:42 to write 8001MB of data, beating the drives from LG and Sony by more than 6 minutes. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

Here too, the ND-4550A's writing quality could have been better. While the PI errors were relatively low when tested with KProbe, the PIF rates were higher than we'd like to see. The PIF rates were lower when tested with the BenQ DW1640. However, as you can see, there were some problems reading the disc back.

Performance Revisited:

The performance of NEC's new "Super-Multi" was, for the most part, pretty mixed. When it came to writing DVD's, the ND-4550A held its own throughout most of our tests. However, there were a number of cases where the writing quality could have been better. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the drive. In our tests, the ND-4550A was able to read single layer data DVD's and DVD±R media at speeds near 16x, but slowed to only 7x when reading DVD±R DL discs.

The ND-4550A also did relatively well in our CD reading and writing tests. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive was able to read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x. NEC's new drive also performed well in our writing and rewriting tests. The ND-4550A turned in some good writing times and its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the NEC ND-4550A gets a 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

Over the last year or so, we've had a number of NEC's DVD writers in the 'Labs. Offering a good mix of value, performance and features, these drives have become the choice of enthusiasts as well as some of our favorites. Needless to say, I went into this review eager to see what NEC's first "Super-Multi" drive could do. While the ND-4550A performed as expected in most of our tests, things like writing quality kept the drive from getting top marks in our review.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the ND-4550A took about 6 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. While this wasn't enough to top the DVD writers from LG and Plextor, NEC's new "Super-Multi" drive gave them both a serious run for their money. The ND-4550A also turned in some goodwriting times with DVD+RW and DVD-RAM media but, for whatever reason, it would not erase or packet write to DVD-RW discs at anything faster 4x. Writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media wasn't a problem for the ND-4550A either. However, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast as some of the other drives we've tested.

Finding compatible media really wasn't an issue with NEC's new "Super-Multi" drive. The ND-4550A wrote to most of our test media at its rated speed or better and was even able to write to some 8x DVD±R discs at 16x. When it came to writing quality, though, the ND-4550A gave us some mixed results. While the PI/PIF rates were pretty good with most of the DVD±R media we tested, these results were marred by a large PI/PIF/POF spike. Given, this spike only showed up when testing with BenQ drives, it's still a little concerning as we didn't see anything like this with NEC's previous DVD writers.

The ND-4550A also performed pretty well in our DVD read tests. While its seek times were higher than I would have liked, the drive was able to read single layer data and video DVD-ROM's and DVD±R discs at speeds as high as 16x. The ND-4550A also read DVD±RW media at an impressive 13x but slowed to about 7x when reading DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs.

Reading and writing CD's wasn't a problem for the ND-4550A. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 40x. NEC's new drive wasn't as fast in our DAE tests. However, it still ripped audio CD's at a respectable 40x. Thanks to its 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds, the ND-4550A also did pretty well in our writingand rewriting tests. The drive not only turned in some impressive times, its writing quality was quite good.

When it comes to features, the ND-4550A is very similar to NEC's previous DVD writers. To prevent buffer underruns, the drivehas a 2048KB buffer that is backed up by some sort of buffer underrun technology. While this buffer is a little smaller than what we'd like to see on a 16x DVD writer, this system worked flawlessly in our tests. The ND-4550A also offers a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL discs. Unfortunately, it won't let you set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media. Of course, this is something you can easily get around by usingmodified firmware.

While the ND-4550A has been available in Europe and Asia for a couple of months, it's still very hard to find in the US and Canada. If you can't wait for places like Newegg or NCIX to get it in stock, Mad Dog is currently using it in their MegaSTOR Triple Format drive kit. Mad Dog's drives are easy to find and can usually be picked up at a reasonable price.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 16x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-R DL media at 6x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD±RW media at 13x
• Reads DVD±R DL media at 7x
• Reads and writes DVD-RAM media at 5x
• Features 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
• Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
• Includes buffer underrun prevention technology
• Good CD writing quality
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL media
• Can write to select 8x DVD-R and DVD+R media at 16x

Lows:

• Large PI/PIF/POF spike on DVD±R discs written at 12x and 16x
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R DL media
• Had a hard time reaching its rated speeds when reading pressed CD and DVD discs
• Packet writes and erases DVD-RW media at only 4x
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
• Problems recognizing discs larger than 90 minutes
• Only a 2048KB buffer
• Hard to find in the US and Canada