NEC ND-3500A Recorder - Page 2

Transfer Rate Reading Tests

- CD Format

The NEC ND-3500A supports up to 48X reading speed. Below are the transfer rate graphs along with the comparative results for the Pioneer DVR-108, the Memorex D²(F16) and the BenQ DW1620A drive:

The NEC ND-3500A proved to be faster than the Pioneer model with Pressed CDs, CD-R media and US-RW media. However, the Memorex D² drive was the fastest drive with CD Pressed and CDR media, while the BenQ DW1620A was the fastest drive with Ultra-Speed CD-RW media.

- DVD Format

Only small differences were reported with pressed single layer DVD-ROM media. The ND-3500A reported the slowest average speed, slightly lower than the Pioneer model.

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 ND-3500A reading performance was not good with this type of disc. We observed the slowest speed compared to the other drives. The Pioneer drive was the fastest.

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 on 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 towards the inner part of the disc. Again, same image here, with the NEC drive being the slowest. The average reading speed was 5.40X with a start speed of 3.02X and end speed of 7.20X.

The ND-3500A can read DVD ±R media up to 16X and DVD ±RW up to 8X. That makes the TDK 1616n one of the fastest readers on the market for ±R media.

The ND-3500A reported an average ripping speed of 5087kb/sec with DVD-Video discs (even slower than the TDK 1616N that reported 5125kb/sec), and proved to be slower than all other drives when it comes to DVD Video ripping. The Memorex drive was the fastest DVD Video ripper.

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