NEC ND-3540A 16x DVD±RW

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.12 andDLA 4.95:

To test the DVD writing performance of NEC's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 4x 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-3540A uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that NEC's new drive starts writing at about 6.6x 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-3540A'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-3540A 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 did very well here. While its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage when writing to DVD-RW discs, the ND-3540A turned in some very good times with DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD+RW media.

While NEC has a list of compatible media on their website, I wanted to see for myself how well the ND-3540A worked with some of the DVD+R and DVD-R media currently available.

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 DW1620. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1620 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 with a Lite-On XJ-HD166S. By default, this DVD-ROM drive reads recordable media at only 8x. However, thanks to a firmware patched by The Dangerous Brothers, I was able to boost the drive's read speed to 12x. 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.

The ND-3540A's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Looking at the graphs above, you can see that aside from a few isolated PIF spikes, the error rates remained fairly low. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement, especially with the Optodisc media. When scanned with the BenQ DW1620, the PIF rates were fairly high near the end and there were a number of PO Failures.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were pretty good for the most part. The only exception was Memorex's 16x media. When scanned with KProbe, the PI rates were higher than we'd like to see.

To test the ND-3540A's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.95. Verbatim 4x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media were used once again.

When writing our test data, the ND-3540A turned in some very good times with both DVD+RW and DVD-RW media. The drive was also fairly quick when reading DVD+RW discs, but for whatever reason took longer than expected to read back our test data from DVD-RW media.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.12:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the ND-3540A, I used 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 DVD+R DL media at 8x. Unfortunately, Memorex's Ritek manufactured discs would not work at anything faster than 2.4x.

With Nero, it took the ND-3540A about 18:19 to write 8001MB of data. While faster than the drives from Sony and ASUS, it was actually a few seconds slower than the PX-716A. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

I have to admit, the writing quality was better than I expected with Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media. When writing to these discs at 8x, I expected poor writing quality and readability problems. As you can see, that wasn't really the case. Aside from the spike at the layer change, the PI and PIF errors stayed within acceptable limits.

While written to at a much slower speed, Memorex's Ritek manufactured media yielded some mixed results. The PI/PIF rates remained relatively low when tested with KProbe. However, when tested with the BenQ DW1620, they were not only higher, there were a number of PO Failures. Surprisingly enough, this didn't seem to have any effect on readability.

The ND-3540A also features 6x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, Verbatim's new 4x DVD-R DL media was used.

With its Z-CLV writing method, the ND-3540A wasn't as fast as the drives from ASUS and Plextor. Nevertheless, it took only 20:34 to write 8001MB of data, beating the DRU-800A by almost 7 minutes. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The ND-3540A's writing quality was also pretty mixed with Verbatim's DVD-R DL media. While the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with KProbe and CD Speed, there were a small number of PO Failures. Nevertheless, aside from a slight dip in one of the transfer rate graphs, there were no readability problems.

Performance Revisited:

Like NEC's previous DVD writers, the ND-3540A performed pretty well in our tests. The drive flew through our DVD writing tests, turning in some impressive times with DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the ND-3540A either. NEC's new drive was able to read single layer data DVD's and DVD±R discs at speeds near 16x, but slowed to only 7x when reading DVD videos.

The ND-3540A 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. The ND-3540A wasn't as fast in our DAE tests. However, it still ripped audio CD's at a respectable 40x. NEC's new drive also performed very well in our writing and rewriting tests. The ND-3540A turned in some good writing times and its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the NEC ND-3540A gets an 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.