Conclusion

What can we really say about this drive that hasn't already been said? In essence being an OEM NEC ND-3500A says it all. The Ricoh drive has the strengths and weaknesses of its "brother". The NEC ND-3500A series enjoyed tremendous success, offering good quality and a good set of features at an affordable price.

Comparing our results against the results of our original review for the NEC ND-3500A, we saw a few improvements in DVD writing quality and defective disc reading. Apparently, there are things that have been fixed with subsequent firmware releases.

The Good

* NEC ND-3500A OEM Drive
* Very good DVD error correction capabilities
* Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)
* Supports audio protected discs
* Excellent CD writing quality at 32X with low Jitter values
* Very good Single Layer DVD writing quality
* 4x recording with Double Layer media
* Very good writing quality with Double Layer media
* Can read/rip 90min Audio CDs
* Can overburn up to 88min CDs

- The Bad

* Poor CD error correction
* Slow ripping CSS DVD-Video performance
* DAE speed only up to 32X
* Mount Rainier is not supported
* Cannot recognize 99min Audio CD's
* Cannot create working backups with SafeDisc protected games over v2.60
* Cannot overburn DVD recordable media
* Medium CD writing quality at 48X
* Does not recognize properly Ricoh DL media

- Like To be fixed

* Official firmware release to support booktype setting for +R/+RW media
* Better writing quality with 48X CD-R media
* Ricoh DL media support

 

Retail Package
Reading
Error Correction
Protected Discs
Writing
Features