NEC UK today announced the launch of the NEC MultiSpin ND-1100A, the world’s first DVD drive able to write both DVD-R and DVD+R media at 4x speed. Available through NEC UK’s distribution channel, the ND-1100A provides a complete solution for data backup, storage and distribution – from sharing films and music to archiving a massive 4.7 Gb/s of content on one DVD disk alone. It removes the compatibility issues that have slowed the take-up of DVD re-writers by incorporating all eight optical storage formats in one product. Andrew Wyllie, who heads up NEC UK’s Data Storage operation, says: "Competing standards in the DVD re-writing market have left hardware manufacturers, dealers and consumers wondering which horse to back. The ND-1100A removes the guesswork once and for all, enabling end-users to create disks for play-back in virtually all DVD video players and DVD ROM drives with no compromise in performance."

The ND-1100A delivers the fastest and most reliable performance at both reading and writing media of any multi-format DVD drive available today. It supports 2.4x DVD+RW; 2x DVD-RW; 16x CD-R and 10x CD-RW recording, and reads DVD-ROM at maximum 12x and CD-Rom at maximum 40x, outstripping competitor solutions emphatically. This performance enables the ND-1100A to record one hour of DVD Video in just 15 minutes, for example.

This product also includes ACTOPC - NEC’s ‘high resolution writing strategy’ to enhance the accuracy of written data. ACTOPC provides the user with improved quality of data copying – whilst allowing for local anomaly in the media – manufacturing tolerances, finger marks etc.

The ND-1100A will be available in the UK from November 2002 for an estimated end-user price of £249.

Technical Data - MultiSpin 4X DVD± Writer

Product name: ND-1100A

Data transfer rate
- Read
DVD: 12x CAV (max.16,200 Kbyte/s)
CD: 40x CAV (max. 6,000 Kbyte/s) - write
DVD-R: 4x, 2x (5,400/2,700 Kbyte/s)
DVD-RW: 2x, 1x (2,700/1,350 Kbyte/s)
DVD+R: 4x, 2.4x (5,400/3,240 Kbyte/s)
DVD+RW: 2.4x (3,240 Kbyte/s)
CD-R: 16x (2,400 Kbyte/s)
CD-RW: 10x (1,500 Kbyte/s)
- Access time
DVD: 140 ms
CD: 120 ms
- Memory: 2 MBytes
- Interface: ATAPI Ultra DMA 33 mode 2 & PIO Mode 4
- Audio connections:Headphone, volume control, analog- and digital output
- Media supported: DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW with 80mm and 120mm diameter
- Modes supported: DVD-ROM, DVD Video, CD-DA, CD Extra, CD Text, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I, CD-I Ready, CD-Bridge, Photo-CD, Video CD - Writing methods
DVD: Random Access Writing (DVD±RW) & Sequential Writing (DVD±R/DVD±RW)
CD: DAO (disc at once), SAO (session at once), TAO (track at once) with zero gap, variable or fixed packet, multisession
- Special features
Vertical operation possible
Anti-dust seal
PC 2001 Certification
MultiRead compliant
- ACTOPC – dynamically monitoring writing power and reflection of the media in use, calculating the optimum laser power and adjusting it to real-time.
- Platforms supported: Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP, Windows NT 4.0 Availability: Nov. 2002