NEC ND-2500A DVD±RW recorder - Page 14

Conclusion

Pros	Cons
8x DVD±R writing 4x DVD±RW writing 32x CD-R writing Excellent CD writing quality Good DVD writing quality Low 3T jitter Long supported DVD media list Supports CD-Text (reading/writing) Good DVD ripping speed Low CD/DVD seek times Supports audio protected discs Very good price	Low CD error correction ability Cannot read or rip 99min Audio CD's Mount Rainier is not supported Failure with Abex TDV-541 test disc Low DAE speed Cannot create working backups with SafeDisc protected games over v2.60

As a reader, the NEC ND-2500A returned acceptable speeds for both CD and DVD with good seek times. But we would like to see the drive with a higher average reading speed for DVD±RW media. Generally the drive performed well in the series of reading tests and confirmed the manufacturers reading specifications for all formats.

In the CD error correction tests, the drive had poor performance. It managed to playback only the first two levels of our CD-Check Audio Test Disc. Most good drives can easily play the first four levels, with the best managing all 5 check levels. The behaviour with the Abex-721R test disc was also quite disappointing. The -18.4 dB(A) maximum value for the loudness error level is high. We were hoping for a good score with the Abex-726 disc, but here too the drive did not perform anywhere near expectations..

The drive's error correction capabilities with DVD media was better than with CD media. It managed to playback almost all of our test discs. However it failed to read the ABEX TDV-541 which checks a drive's ability to switch between layers.

The drive failed to make SafeDisc v2.9 working backups, and backups of earlier versions were playable only on the NEC drive itself but not on other drives. Apart from this, the drive is fast in ripping process with all the game protection schemes we tried, except of course for Safedisc.

According to the DAE test, the drive had average performance and we would like to see faster operation. On the other hand the drive managed to playback and rip both Key2Audio and CDS200 protected Audio CDs. The fact that the drive doesn't play or rip 99 minutes AudioCDs is a minor issue.

Despite the fact that the drive could not overburn 99min CDs, the unit performed extremely well as a CD writer and the 32x supported CD recording speed is good. What was most impressive however was the drive's CD writing quality which can only be described as excellent! It registered very low jitter values with all the discs we tried, and the C1 levels were low while no C2 errors were reported.

In the DVD recording tests we would like to congratulate NEC regarding the drive's compatibility with all the media we tested. It managed to burn at the speed of 8x most of our 4x DVD media. Also the DVD writing quality was very good, with low PI/PO levels.

All in all, we can characterise the drive as being a very good quality writer, but it does have problems with game protection schemes and defects on the disc's surface, even minor ones.

The drive is currently availiable on the market at the price of around €100. At such a low price, with the performance we saw and 8x dual DVD recording, we feel that the NEC ND-2500A is a very good purchase, being better than other, more expensive recorders. As long as you don't need to read scratched or troublesome discs, but you need a good writer, then this is a good choice.