Nec ND-2500A DVD±RW recorder -
Page 1
NEC
is probably the leading supplier of chipsets for the latest DVD recording kits
of various manufacturers. Having two giants on the oposite side, MediaTek and
Sanyo, the company has strengthened its position in the OEM market and offers
fully combatible chipset solutions for high speed DVD recorders. The drive
we have in our hands is the NEC's own proposal for 8x multi-format recording.
The drive is capable of 8x DVD±R
recording and rewrite speed with DVD±RW media of 4x. With CD
media, the unit allows recording up to 32x and 24x with rewritable
media. As
a reader it supports 12x for DVD-ROM, 8x for DVD±RW and 40x for CD.
Features
The
Nec ND-2500A recorder uses the Just-Link feature to prevent buffer under-run
errors.
Specifications
| Drive |
NEC ND-2500A |
| Media |
DVD |
CD |
| Transfer Rate Read |
5...12x (max 16200 kb/s) |
17...40x (2550-6000 kb/s) |
| Transfer Rate Write |
DVD-R 8x ZCLV (max 11040 kb/s) |
CD-R 32x ZCLV (max 4800 kb/s) |
| DVD-RW 4x CLV (5520 kb/s) |
| DVD+R 8x ZCLV (max 11040 kb/s) |
CD-RW 16x CLV (max 2400 kb/s) |
| DVD+RW 4x CLV (5520 kb/s) |
| Access Time |
140ms |
120ms |
| Mechanism |
motorized Tray load mechanism for horizonal and vertical
use |
| Interface |
IDE / ATAPI |
| Burst Transfer Rate |
PIO mode 4 / Ultra DMA 33 |
| Cashe Memory |
2MB |
| Audio |
headphone jack and volume control at front plus digital-out
and line-out at the back (MPC compatible) |
| Media/Modes supported |
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 |
| Writing methods |
DAO(disc at once), SAO(session at once), TAO(track at once)
with zero gap, variable or fixed packet, multisession |
| Compatibility |
MPC Level 3, MultiRead, PC2001 |
| Weight |
1.02kgr |
| Dimensions |
148mm x 42mm x 190mm |
The drive uses a 2MB buffer memory store and supports RAW DAO 96 writing
(CD). However the NEC drive does not support Mount Rainier,
nor does it read or write DVD-RAM media.
The drive uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change
the drive's region at most 5 times. For our tests, we set the region
code to 2 (Europe).
- The drive
The
european retail package includes an installation guide and two
blank media (one recordable and one rewriteable). Also included is Nero 6
software
for writing, InCD for packet writing, Nero wave
editor
for sound editing, NeroVission Express 2 and MyDVD 4.5 for authoring, Cine
Player and Showtime for DVD playback, Recode, and Nero Digital (MPEG4).
The IDE cable, audio cable and mounting screws are also included.
The drive's front panel is coloured white. On the tray door are the DVD-R/RW,
DVD+R/RW and CD-RW logos, all located at right. Below the tray door are
the headphones jack, volume control and the power/activity led on the left.
The power/activity led lights green during playback and orange while recording.
The emergency eject hole
is found in the middle of the panel, while the eject button is placed
on the right, below the logos.
On the rear panel there are
the analogue and digital audio outputs (SPDIF), the IDE connector
and the power input.
Removing the screws and opening the drive's cover voids the drive's warranty.
For reference reasons, we post the following pictures. Click on the photo for
an enlarged view.
- Installation
The NEC ND-2500A was connected to our test PC and was identified
as "DVD_RW ND-2500A" under
WinXP. All tests were done with firmware revision v1.06.
The following pages include the test results for the NEC ND-2500A drive
in comparison with the Pioneer DVR-107D, since both drives are capable of
8x DVD recording.
