...uk last week for £40 to replace the NEC 1300a drive I had had for just over a year. Installation is very easy, just a matter of connecting up a power cord and ribbon cable, only took a few minutes.
The drive will copy both -R and +R DVD's (and re-writeable) plus the usual CD's. Copy speed ... Read review
...for £40 to replace the NEC 1300a drive I had had for just over a year. Installation is very easy, just a matter of connecting up a power cord and ribbon cable, only took a few minutes.
The drive will copy both -R and +R DVD's (and re-writeable) plus the usual CD's. Copy speed for a full DVD is about 9 minutes and a CD around 2. No software came with the drive, but DVD Shrink (free ware) and Copy ToDvd (£20) covers all your needs, and ... ...months ago, my 4 speed NEC 1300a cost over £100, this drive is 4 times faster and less than half that.
When buying disks, use good quality ones, something like Ritek or disks using Ritek "dye" as the copy medium. They don't cost a lot, I just bougt 50 blanks and they worked out at around 20p each.
For blank media I use Datawrite disks from
http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk/shop/home.php?cat=260
... more
I picked up one of these from www.aria.co.uk last week for £40 to replace the NEC 1300a drive I had had for just over a year. Installation is very easy, just a matter of connecting up a power cord and ribbon cable, only took a few minutes.
The drive will copy both -R and +R DVD's (and re-writeable) plus the usual CD's. Copy speed for a full DVD is about 9 minutes and a CD around 2. No software came with the drive, but DVD Shrink (free ware) and Copy ToDvd (£20) covers all your needs, and both programmes are easy and intuative to use. The drive copies DVD media at up to 16 speed and CD media at 48 speed. I have tried several different brand of DVD's and they have all worked without problem
This drive is quieter than my old one, and to be honest, I am amazed at the speed of recording.
This is the only drive I have in my main PC now, as it does it all, from copying disks to playing DVD films. Windows XP found it straight away, and no special drivers are needed to get the drive up and running.
At £40, its a real bargain, well worth the money; 14 months ago, my 4 speed NEC 1300a cost over £100, this drive is 4 times faster and less than half that.
When buying disks, use good quality ones, something like Ritek or disks using Ritek "dye" as the copy medium. They don't cost a lot, I just bougt 50 blanks and they worked out at around 20p each.
Advantages: Good quality, reliable, flexible, inexpensive Disadvantages: Not the prettiest drive available
After my Asus CD-RW bit the dust (the obligatory 1 month out of warranty), I decided the time was right to shift up a technology level and invest in a DVD writer. Prices have gone through the floor in the past couple of years and you can now pick up a DVD burner for less than twice the price of a far less flexible CD-RW; it's worth remembering that DVD-RW drives will also read and write CDs.
I bought this drive as the 'OEM' package - you only get ... ...you'll need to get the 'retail' pack if you don't want to have to buy software and an IDE cable separately. The OEM version also comes sans manual, which won't be a problem if you've ever installed any other optical drive; simply plug it in and go (it's sensible to put writer drives as Master on the secondary IDE channel if you can - they can sometimes be fussy if you set them to Slave). If you know what you're doing, the OEM version is substantially ...
yummifruitbat 30.07.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of NEC ND-3520
Advantages: Compatibility with other disks Disadvantages: Needs a firmware update to get the full speed
This is the best drive I have had! I have burnt over 25 discs from my local computer store with no failures yet, all with excelent quality picture.
I bought this for about £35 about two months ago from my local pc shop/store.
The drive can write almost any disk media avalible at the present time.
For such a fast writer it is very quite.
Be aware tho that this device shall come normally with no software, there for I use dvd shrink and dvd decrypter ...
miken2k4 16.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of NEC ND-3520
Advantages: Excellent value for money Disadvantages: Quirky with DL disks
...to search on google / nec for the latest firmware.
The original firmware was very picky about the speed at which it would burn and typically did not go above 8x irrespective of the brand or type of disc used.
Since flashing the new firmware I am now happily burning normal DVD-R / DVD+R at around 16x without much trouble on most brands.
DL recording is however still quite quirky and many of the cheaper branded DL disks have ended us as bird scarers! ...
bament123 22.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of NEC ND-3520
120 ms (DVD), 120 ms (CD), 120 ms (CD), 120 ms (CD), 140 ms (DVD)
Expansion / connectivity
Interfaces
1 x ATA-33 - 40 PIN IDC
Compatible Bays
1 x front accessible - 5.25" x 1/2H
Miscellaneous
Works with Windows Vista
Software and devices that carry the Works with Windows Vista logo have been tested for baseline compatibility with PC's running.
Package Type
OEM, Bulk
Software / system requirements
OS Required
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Manufacturer's product description
ND-3520 is the first model in the market who can write both DVD-R and DVD+R in dual layers, which was previously was only possible in the DVD+R9 format. With ND-3520 it is now possible for rewritable RW discs to be burned with the highest speed so far in the market, 8x for DVD+RW and 6x for DVD-RW respectively. The speed of writing with dual layers is 4x. An amazing 8.5 GB can be stored on a dual-layer disc. The large storage capacity makes the writer suitable for users who wish to quickly and simply store films, music and other volumes of data in a flexible way. A one-hour DVD video can be recorded in six minutes with the ND-3520, irrespective of the DVD format. NEC also implemented its own developed buffer under run error prevention technology. The ND-3520 takes advantage of an enhanced version of NEC's own AOPC technology (Active Optimum Power Control), which adjusts the laser effect in real time so as to achieve optimal readability. The ND-3520 is backwards compatible and writes on CD-R at a maximum speed of 48x.
