NEC ND-3540A 16x DVD±RW

NEC drives have quite a following among enthusiasts and after having the ND-3540A in our 'Labs, it's easy to see why. While affordably priced, their new 16x DVD±RW offers a healthy dose of features and some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available.

It shouldn't be too surprising that what the ND-3540A does best is write DVD's. When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the drive took about 6 minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. NEC's new DVD writer also performed pretty well in our rewriting tests, turning in some impressive times with both DVD-RW and DVD+RW media. The ND-3540A held its own when writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media, but 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 the ND-3540A. The drive 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. The ND-3540A's writing quality was also fairly good for the most part. However, there's definitely room for improvement, especially with Optodisc 16x DVD+R and Ritek DVD+R DL media. Hopefully NEC can tweak this in a future firmware update.

NEC's new DVD±RW 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 DVD-ROM's and DVD±R discs at speeds as high as 16x. The ND-3540A also read DVD±RW media at an impressive 13x but slowed to 7x when reading DVD+R DL discs and DVD-Videos. This is an improvement over NEC's previous DVD writers. However, there are still better drives out there if you want to rip DVD movies.

Reading and writing CD's wasn't a problem for the ND-3540A either. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 40x. It also ripped audio CD's at a respectable 40x but had some problems reading scratched discs. This level of performance carried over to our writing tests. The ND-3540A turned in some impressive times thanks to its 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds and its writing quality was quite good.

When it comes to features, the ND-3540A 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. The ND-3540A 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 using modified firmware.

In the end, it usually comes down to price. Fortunately, the ND-3540A is one of the more affordable 16x DVD±RW drives currently available. Available in your choice of black or beige, the OEMversion of the drive can be picked up for less than $50 through some of the vendors listed on Pricegrabber.

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 12x
• Reads DVD±R DL media at 7x
• 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
• Affordably priced

Lows:

• Had a hard time reaching its rated speeds when reading pressed CD and DVD discs
• Reads DVD Videos at only 7x
• Erases 6x 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