NEC ND-2510A Recorder - Page 2

Transfer Rate Reading Tests

- CD Format

The NEC ND-2510A supports up to 40X reading speed. Below are the transfer rate graphs, along with the comparison with the LiteOn 832S.

Although the ND-2510A was slightly slower than the LiteOn, the speed difference is negligible. Only with Ultra Speed CDRW media did the NEC's drive perform faster, but again, the difference is only marginal.

- DVD Format

With pressed single layer media, the LiteOn 832S was faster than the ND-2510A. NEC's drive had speed values similar to the Plextor PX-708A.

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, progressing towards the outer range, for each layer. The NEC ND-2510A was again slower than the LiteOn 832S, and this time the speed differences were more pronounced than before.

The graph shown above indicates the reading performance of the ND-2510 with OTP dual layer media. The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here is the reading strategy of the second layer of the disc. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks toward the inner part of the disc. The average reading speed was 5.41X, with a low value of 2.87X and a peak value of 7.21X.

As shown above, the NEC ND-2510A continued to be slower than the LiteOn 832S even with DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW.

NEC's official firmware for the ND drive series includes rip lock. This means that the drive can achieve a higher speed, but the firmware prevents it from ripping at anything higher than a given value of 5.2~5.5X. This explains the big ripping speed difference shown above. There is no official firmware until now to disable this speed barrier, but there are several versions of hacked firmware versions over the internet.

• Pressed CD - Seek Times, CDR Media - Seek Times,
• Pressed Single Layer DVD-ROM - Seek Times, Pressed PTP Dual Layer DVD-ROM - Seek Times

Nero CD-DVD Speed Graphs

• CD Pressed / CD-R / US-RW
• DVD Pressed SL / DVD Pressed DL / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW