PC-GUY
1
We have to thank John at CDRinfo for another great review. 
NEC is known for developing high quality burners at a considerably low cost. Following the success of the ND-25x0 series and the ND-3500A model, rumors were heard around the Internet regarding a new NEC burner with more features than the NEC ND-3500A. Since 16X writing speed is the physical limit for DVD media, users were asking what this new burner had to offer. The answer is simple: higher Re-Writing speed. Since most users will be eager to find out more about this drive, we decided to post this preview to share our first impressions, until the full review is released.
- Features
The new NEC model is capable of writing DVD media at 16X and re-writing DVD+RW media at 8X. DVD-RW media writing speed is raised from 4X to 6X. -R double layer upgradeability is an issue that will be discussed later on this preview. CD writing speed is not changed, already tuned at 48X for CD-R media and 24X for CD-RW media. It can also burn double layer media at 4X, and support anti-buffer underun protection system. WOPC is introduced to further improve burning quality.
- Specifications
<table class="small" align="center" border="1" width="490"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="71">
For the rest of the review try this or for the conclusion read on.
Although this is just a preview and no conclusions should be taken for granted, we could post our first impressions for this new burner.
First of all, NEC uses a new chipset for this new burner. Although the burner itself cannot burn -R double layer media, the new D6364 chipset supports -R DL writing at 2X and 4X. Talk from NEC refers to a new firmware release that will add -R DL writing, but it will not be available until March. It is good to know that users can simply apply firmware upgrades to add -R DL feature.
NEC has already built a good and trusted reputation with DVD burners through their former models, and even if some of them were not good readers, they were very good burners. The ND-3520A has very good DVD error correction capabilities and has proven to be a fast reader.
The drive performed very well with DVD+R and DVD+RW media so far, but some further improvements could be made with DVD-R writing quality. However, we cannot see the full picture without further investigating writing quality.
NEC is known for developing high quality burners at a considerably low cost. Following the success of the ND-25x0 series and the ND-3500A model, rumors were heard around the Internet regarding a new NEC burner with more features than the NEC ND-3500A. Since 16X writing speed is the physical limit for DVD media, users were asking what this new burner had to offer. The answer is simple: higher Re-Writing speed. Since most users will be eager to find out more about this drive, we decided to post this preview to share our first impressions, until the full review is released.
- Features
- Specifications
<table class="small" align="center" border="1" width="490"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="71">
Drive
</td> <td colspan="4">NEC ND-3500A
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19">Media
</td> <td colspan="2">DVD
</td> <td colspan="2">CD
</td> </tr> <tr> <td rowspan="7">Transfer Rate Write
</td> <td height="19" width="28">+R
</td> <td width="171">16x (9 - 22MBytes/sec)
</td> <td rowspan="4" width="25">
-R
</td> <td rowspan="4" width="161"> 48x (3000-7200kBytes/sec)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">+R9
</td> <td>4x (5.5 MBytes/sec)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2.4x (3.3 MByte/sec)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">+RW
</td> <td rowspan="2">8x (11 MBytes/sec)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3" width="25">-RW
</td> <td rowspan="3" width="161">24x (3000-3600kBytes/sec)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>-R
</td> <td>16x ( 9 - 22MBytes/sec)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>-RW
</td> <td>6x (8.2MBytes/sec)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" rowspan="3">Transfer Rate Read
</td> <td>DVD-R 16x CAV (max 22000 kb/s)
</td> <td colspan="2">CD-R 48x CAV (max 4800 kb/s)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>DVD+R 16x CAV (max 22000 kb/s)
</td> <td colspan="2" rowspan="2">CD-RW 16x CLV (max 2400 kb/s)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>DVD+R9 4X CLV (5500 KByte/s)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Mechanism
</td> <td colspan="4">motorized Tray load mechanism for horizontal and vertical use
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Interface
</td> <td colspan="4">IDE / ATAPI
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Burst Transfer Rate
</td> <td colspan="4">PIO mode 4 / Ultra DMA 33
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19">Cashe Memory
</td> <td colspan="4">2MB
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Audio
</td> <td colspan="4">digital-out and line-out at the back (MPC compatible)
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="62">Modes supported
</td> <td colspan="4">DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-Video, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-Audio, CD Extra, CD Text, CD-IReady, CD-Bridge, Photo-CD, VideoCD, Hybrid CD
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="34">Writing methods
</td> <td colspan="4">DAO(disc at once), SAO(session at once), TAO(track at once) with zero gap, variable or fixed packet, multisession
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Compatibility
</td> <td colspan="4">MPC Level 3, MultiRead, PC2001
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Weight
</td> <td colspan="4">1.01 kgr
</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Dimensions
</td> <td colspan="4">148mm x 42mm x 190mm
</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> The drive does not support Mount Rainier and it uses the well known RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times. Unfortunately, it cannot read or write DVD-RAM media. Below are the drive's main specs as given by NeroInfoTool, VSO Inspector and DVDInfoPro:For the rest of the review try this or for the conclusion read on.
Although this is just a preview and no conclusions should be taken for granted, we could post our first impressions for this new burner.
First of all, NEC uses a new chipset for this new burner. Although the burner itself cannot burn -R double layer media, the new D6364 chipset supports -R DL writing at 2X and 4X. Talk from NEC refers to a new firmware release that will add -R DL writing, but it will not be available until March. It is good to know that users can simply apply firmware upgrades to add -R DL feature.
NEC has already built a good and trusted reputation with DVD burners through their former models, and even if some of them were not good readers, they were very good burners. The ND-3520A has very good DVD error correction capabilities and has proven to be a fast reader.