NEC ND-4550A DVD-Writer Review

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Review:
NEC ND-4550A
Reviewer: Jan70
Provided by: NEC
Germany
Firmware: 1.07
Manufactured: October
2005

NEC Germany, was
kind enough to send us one of their latest DVD-writer the NEC ND-4550A. This
drive supports 16x DVD+R/-R, 5x DVD-RAM, 8x/6x DVD+RW/-RW writing and 8x/6x
DVD+R DL/-R DL writing technology - allowing Double/Dual Layer discs of 8.5GB to
be written.

Company
information:

Let us take a look
at some of the company information found at the NEC Germany
site:

NEC
Deutschland GmbH, based in Ismaning near Munich, was established as a
wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation in 1987.

The product portfolio
includes the most modern presentation technology, such as Video, LCD and DLP™
projectors and plasma monitors as well as peripherals such as CD-ROM, DVD drives
and floppy disks. Telecommunications products and biometric security solutions
round off the product range.

The sales territory covers Central Europe,
including Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as the Benelux countries and
Eastern and South East Europe

Facts &
Figures:

NEC Group
Structure

NEC
Corporation will position its business on "providing integrated solutions
(including services) for mission critical systems in open environments" and
concentrate further on IT and network integrating solution
businesses.

NEC Electronics Corporation which concentrates its management
resources on system large-scale integration (LSI) business will strengthen its
global competitiveness, expanding its business as a specialist enterprise that
empowers its global customers by providing semiconductor solutions for high-end
system needs.

Through this new NEC group structure, NEC aims to increase
the corporate value of the entire NEC group.

If you are
interested in reading more company information, please visit: NEC
GERMANY

Drive specifications:

The official
listed specification of this drive was found on the NEC Germany
website:

What's inside
the box?

On this page
we will take a look at the drive and its technology.

Below you will
see the contents:

• The
  internal ND-4550 drive itself
  
• NEC Writer
  CD-ROM:
  
  
  
  • Documentation for NEC DVD
    Writer
    
  • Software
    documentation
    
  • NeroExpress 6.6 for Windows
    98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP and 2003 Server
    
  • NeroVision Express 3 &
    ShowTime 2 for Windows 98SE, ME, 200 and XP
  
  
• MPC Audio
  cable
  
• Screw
  set
  
• IDE
  Cable

Now it's time
to take a look at the drive itself:

The NEC
ND-4550 uses the same bezel that previous NEC DVD Writers have used. A simple
and clean design that includes a few logos, a single green coloured LED, an
emergency eject hole and an eject button. (We would prefer different LED colours
to distinguish between reading and writing operations). The logos located on the
right side of the drive tray include a DVD
Forum logo, a DVD
Alliance DVD+R DL logo, and a CD-RW Ultra Speed logo.

Top

On the
top-side of the drive we found one sticker and we can read it was made in
Malaysia '“ October 2005.

Underside

On the
underside of the drive we can see a pattern of holes, which is used for
ventilation.

Side

On the back of
the drive starting from the left, we can see a digital audio connector; analogue
audio connector; pins and jumper to set the drive to cable select, slave or
master; IDE connector and finally the power connector.

We installed
the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero
InfoTool:

 

Our drive came
shipped with firmware 1.06 and was later updated to 1.07 (see below):

A screenshot
from Nero InfoTool after the firmware update:

From the
screenshot of Nero InfoTool above, we miss Mt.Rainier and a larger buffer
size.

Another shot
from Nero Burning ROM:

 

But let us continue
this review and see how it really performs.

On the next page we
will take a look at the test machine, the software, the drive
features…………

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Test machine:

For this
review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: Asus A8V Deluxe
  
  
• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
  (Venice) 1000 MHz Hyper Transport
  
• RAM: 1 GB Corsair Kit PC3200 DDR
  
  
• GFX: ATI Radeon 9600 XT
  
• Sound: Onboard Realtek
  AC'97
  
• Hard
  disk: Seagate Barracuda ST3250823A
  250 GB

System
set-up:

The NEC ND-4550A was connected as Secondary Master and
identified itself as _NEC DVD_RW ND-4550A. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all devices.

Software:

Windows XP
Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows
XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

• Nero Burning ROM version
  6.6.1.3
  
• Nero CD/DVD Speed
  V4.11
  
• Nero Info Tool
  v3.07
  
• Slysoft CloneCD
  v5.2.5.1
  
• Exact Audio Copy
  v0.95 beta 3
  
• K-Probe v2.5.1
  

 

Features and techniques:

ACTIVE OPC

NEC uses
Active OPC Technology with its optical hardware. Active OPC constantly monitors
the sensitivity of the media and adjusts the laser strength to achieve the best
possible results. It does this by analyzing the reflection from the media's
surface.

8X DVD+R DL
writing speed:

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity)
to write DVD+R9 DL at 8x. Three zones are used to write DVD+R Double Layer discs
at 8x. The average speed is 6.55x and total writing time is 18:40 minutes.

6X DVD-R DL
writing speed:

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity)
to write DVD-R DL at 6x. Two zones are used to write DVD-R Double Layer discs at
6x. The average speed is 5.67x and total writing time is 20:41 minutes.

BookType
(Bitsetting):

The NEC
ND-4550A supports Bitsetting, and will as default write DVD+R DL media with
DVD-ROM BookType.

Here is how
you can check if your discs are really written with the DVD-ROM
BookType:

Start Nero
CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info tab and you should get something like
this: 

DVD+R DL with BookType
DVD-ROM.

Another quick
test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

This should say
DVD-ROM.

Quality
Scans:

The NEC
ND-4550A can be used to measure/scan burned discs for their quality via Nero
CD-DVD Speed. This can be handy to check and get an impression of which
state/condition the burned discs are in. (Quality scans performed on the NEC
ND-4550A drive can NOT be
compared to scans done with other DVD writers).

 

Now it's time
to take a closer look at the write technology used by the NEC
ND-4550A:

CD-Recordable:

The NEC
ND-4550A uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at
its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 36.27x and a total
writing time of 3 minutes and 3 seconds.

For comparison
we have made the following table: 

As we can see
from the table, the NEC ND-4550A performed above average when it comes to
writing CD-R's.

CD-Rewritable:

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity)
writing technology to write at 32X for CD-RW discs, the average speed is 29.73x
and the total time 3 minutes and 37 seconds.

For a better
overview we present the following comparison table:

As we can see
from the table, the NEC ND-4550A performed average on writing CD-RWs.

16X DVD+R/-R
Writing speed:

The NEC
ND-4550A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write
DVD+R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed
of 11.79x and a writing time of 5 minutes 58 seconds.

The NEC
ND-4550A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write
DVD-R at its maximum speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.75x
and a writing time of 6 minutes and 5 second.

Below are some
write graphs from some other drives for comparison:

The NEC 3540A uses CAV
(Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at 16x. This gives an average writing speed of 11.81x and a writing time of 5 minutes and 58
seconds.

The Philips
DVDR16LS uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity) to write
DVD+R at 16x. The average speed is 11.33x and total writing time is 6 minutes
and 8 seconds. The average speed is lower and the writing time is higher than it
could have been due to the Walking OPC generation 2 using some time to
constantly adjust the writing quality, we could see this as constant dips in the
speed curve.

The LG
GSA-5160D uses Z-CLV,
(Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R at 16x. The average speed is 11.60x
and total writing time is 6 minutes and 12 seconds. Below, we made a comparison
table:

*1 - Actual
writing speed was max 14x due to USB-Bridge limitations.
*2 '“ Actual writing
speed was max 13x due to USB-Bridge limitations.

8X DVD+R DL
writing speed:

The NEC
ND-4550A supports 8x writing speed on DVD+R DL media.

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity)
to write DVD+R DL at 8x. The average speed is 6.55x and total writing time is
18:40 minutes.

6X DVD-R DL
writing speed:

The NEC
ND-4550A supports 6x writing speed on DVD-R DL media.

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity)
to write DVD-R DL at 6x. The average speed is 5.67x and total writing time is
20:41 minutes.

8X DVD+RW
writing speed:

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity)
to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 8x and total writing time is 7:17
minutes.

6X DVD-RW
writing speed:

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity)
to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 5.80x and total writing time is
10:39 minutes.

 

Included software:

Now it's time
to look at the included software and to comment if needed. Notice that we may
not use the included software in our performance testing part of the
review.

The Welcome screen

Installation screen

Nero Express
v6.0 OEM:

Very good
software package - suitable for beginners as well as for experienced
users.

Now that we
have finished examining the drive and its writing strategies, it's time to head
on to next page, which is reading performance
test…

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Reading
performance:

For these
tests we will use Nero CD/DVD-Speed to read various CD and DVD's, including
audio discs and DVD-media. As already mentioned in the introduction, this drive
supports:

• DVD-ROM :
  16x
  
• CD-ROM :
  48x 

Pressed
discs:

For this test
we used a pressed CD-ROM disc containing Creative Blaster Audigy install CD that
is close to 74 minutes long. Below you will see the produced result:

The NEC
ND-4550A reached 45.99x. Let's compare the result in the table below:

The NEC
ND-4550A performed average, reading pressed CD-ROM.

CD-Recordable
Discs:

For this test
we made a copy of the original Creative Blaster Audigy install CD. The disc we
used was a Verbatim 48X certified CD-R disc manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals
Corporation. 

Again the NEC
ND-4550A performed average on the CD-R read test.

* Some drives
including the NU HDW-164 will simply execute the seek command without actually
moving the pickup.

 CD-Rewritable discs:

Again, we made
a copy of the original Creative Blaster Audigy install CD; this time we used a
Verbatim Ultra Speed (32X) CD-RW disc made by Mitsubishi Chemicals
Corporation.

As we can see
above, the NEC ND-4550A is locked at 40x, reading CD-RW; now let us compare it
to other drives below.

The NEC
ND-4550A performed above average on CD-RW read test.

* Some drives
including the NU HDW-164 will simply execute the seek command without actually
moving the pickup.

Audio '“
Digital Audio Extraction:

We used Nero
CD/DVD-Speed to measure the transfer rate. The audio disc we used is slightly
larger than the disc used for the other tests, to be exact it's about 78 minutes
long (77:43:45).

The NEC
ND-4550A is locked at 40x while reading CD-DA discs. Let us compare the result
with other drives:

The NEC
ND-4550A performed average on the Audio-CD test.

* Some drives
including the NU HDW-164 will simply execute the seek command without actually
moving the pickup.

Below is the
results produced by EAC:

 Burst mode

 Secure mode

The drive
performed well in burst and slower in secure mode.

Advanced
audio '“ DAE quality test:

Before we move
on to testing DVD read speeds, we will take a last audio test, and this time we
used the 'Advanced DAE Quality Test" feature in CD-Speed. For this test we used
a CD-R DA media from MMORE (Thanks to MMORE (NL) for sending us this
media).

The extracting
quality is excellent and it should support everything, except reading the Leadin
/ Leadout.

 

DVD reading performance:

Again, we will use
Nero CD-Speed to measure the reading performance, this time for various types of
DVD discs. The drive should read pressed single layer DVD-discs at
16X.

DVD '“
DVD-Video:

For our DVD
reading performance tests we are going to start with a single and Double Layered
DVD video discs. While only 1X speed is required to watch DVD movies, it's
useful to be able to read the discs at higher speeds if you're going to extract
(rip) the content of the disc to your hard drive.

DVD-Video Single Layer

 
DVD-Video Double Layer

As we can see
the drive reached 16x on DVD-Video Single Layer and 12x on DVD-Video Double
layer.

The NEC
ND-4550A performed excellent on the DVD-Video SL/DL tests.

 

DVD '“ DVD+R/RW:

For this test
we used a Verbatim 16X DVD+R and a Verbatim 8X DVD+RW with about 4.4Gb of data.
Below are the results:

DVD+R

 
DVD+RW

The NEC
ND-4550A is among the fast drives reading DVD+R and DVD+RW. Now let us see how
it will perform on DVD-R/RW.

 

DVD '“ DVD-R/RW:

For this test
we used a Verbatim 16X DVD-R disc and a Verbatim 6X DVD-RW disc filled with
about 4.4Gb of data. Our test results are found below:

DVD-R

 
DVD-RW

There are
hardly any differences in the speed, compared to reading the DVD+R/RW
discs.

Once again the
NEC ND-4550A is among the fastest drives reading DVD-R and DVD-RW.

Overall
thoughts:

The NEC
ND-4550A is a very good reader.

But now
it's time to head on to a more interesting part: Writing CD-R and CD-RW
discs…

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The
specifications of the NEC ND-4550A state that the drive is able to write CD-R
discs at 48x and CD-RW at 32x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in
speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

For our data
writing tests, we simply set up a new compilation of 700Mb using Nero Burning
ROM software. Writing method used is DAO (Disc At Once),
and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc with 'finalize disc" enabled.
The screenshot below shows how long it takes to write a disc at the highest
speed. (40x):

The drive used
3 minutes and 5 seconds to write the disc at 48x. Let us see how this compares
to other drives:

• Philips
  DVDR1648 used 2 minutes and 50 seconds at 48x
  
• LG
  GSA-4167B used 3 minutes and 7 seconds at 48x
  
• Pioneer
  DVR-110D used 3 minutes and 34 seconds at 40x
  
• NU DHW-164
  used 3 minutes and 12 seconds at 40x
  
• Philips
  DVDR16LS used 3 minutes and 26 seconds at 40x
  
• Samsung
  TS-E552U used 2 minutes and 52 seconds at 40x
  
• LG
  GSA-4163B used 3 minutes and 15 seconds at 40x
  
• Philips
  DVDR1640P used 3 minutes and 17 seconds at 40x
  
• NU DDW-082
  used 3 minutes and 2 seconds at 40x
  
• Samsung
  TS-H552B used exactly 3 minutes at
  40x         
  
• Plextor
  PX-708A used 2 minutes and 58 seconds at 40x

 

Write Quality:

We will test
CD-R discs from different CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed,
we used the 'create data CD" function in Nero CD-Speed. The discs were written
at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test, we used
KProbe 2 which is a tool developed by a Lite-On employee. It runs under Windows
and works with drives made by Lite-On. Also note that different drives and
different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the
discs. We used a Lite-On SOHR-5238S drive with firmware 4S09 and scanned the
discs at 48X speed.

A written CD-R
disc will always have some C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the
drive's error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2
errors could also be corrected by most drive's error correction capabilities;
they are not wanted on a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any
C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the
best discs, or at least below 10.0 averages for good quality discs. After C2
errors, there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

Below are the
obtained results:

Brand:	BenQ CD-R Thanks to Daxon for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Daxon Inc.
Code:	97m22s67f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x
Write Time:	3m:3s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.98
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

BenQ media with
average C1 errors of 0.98 - it goes into the group 'best quality discs"
category.

Brand:	Maxell
Manufacturer:	RiTEK Corporation
Code:	97m15s17f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703 MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	48x
Write Time:	3m:3s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.25
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Maxell media made by
Ritek, and with the C1 average of 0.25 it goes into the 'best quality discs"
category.

Brand:	Infiniti Samurai Lava Red '“ Thanks to Medea Inernational (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	SKC
Code:	97m26s26f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.09 (703 MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	32x (P-CAV)
Write Time:	3m:36s
C1 Average/Sec:	3.22
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Another good result,
but the media was only burned at 32x. 

 

Brand:	RICOH '“ Thanks to RICOH Europe (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Moser Baer India Limited
Code:	97m17s06f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	1x-52x
Write Speed:	48x
Write Time:	3m:3s
C1 Average/Sec:	1.54
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

RICOH media '“
manufactured by Moser Baer India Limited and with its average of 1.54 it goes in
the 'best
quality" category.

 

Brand:	Unbranded Printable. Thanks to SVP UK for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	97m24s01f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.72 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	40x
Write Time:	3m:26s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.57
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Media made by
Taiyo Yuden have always had a good reputation and with the average C1 errors of
0.57 it goes into the group 'best quality discs" category,
however this media was burned at 40x.

 

Brand:	Verbatim '“ Thanks to Verbatim (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	97m34s23f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 3: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.73 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x
Write Time:	3m:03s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.29
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Verbatim '“ a
well-known brand showed us a C1 average of 0.29 - it goes in the category 'Best
Discs".

 

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

Due to requests from
our readers, we will add a few write quality tests with re-writable media.
Settings and testing procedures is the same as used earlier in this review, so
you may want to go back and read them if you are unsure. All discs used for
these tests have been written to before, but none have been written to more than
5 times.

CD-ReWritable
media:

Brand:	N/A '“ Thanks to Daxon for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Daxon Inc.
Code:	97m22s60f
Disc Type:	UltraSpeed CD-RW 16-24x
Recording Layer:	Phase Change
Capacity:	74:41.50
Certified Speed:	N/A
Write Speed:	24x
Write Time:	3m:49s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.52
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

24x CD-RW media made
by Daxon, the result of this disk is excellent with the C1 average of
0.52.

 

Brand:	Verbatim '“ Thanks to Verbatim (D) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	97m34s25f
Disc Type:	Ultra Speed CD-RW 32x
Recording Layer:	Phase Change
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	32x
Write Speed:	32x
Write Time:	3m:37s
C1 Average/Sec:	3.13
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

The result is very
good.

Summary:

The CD-R writing quality is
excellent, and the CD-RW quality is very good.

So let us
head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing
performance…

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The
specifications of this drive tell us that it should write DVD±R at 16x and
DVD+RW/-RW at 8x/6x. In this part, we will measure the write time for various
types of DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs. We will also focus on write quality and
media compatibility.

DVD-Writing performance:

In this test
we will measure the time for writing to DVD±R discs. We used Nero Burning Rom to
burn an ISO compilation containing 4483Mb of data. We used the Disc-At-Once
write method.

DVD+R

DVD-R

Look below for
the results.

The
results are respectable, but let us see how the writing quality is.

 

Write quality:

You should first
notice that this is not a scientific and professional way to test the discs. But
according to our testing done in recent months, we would conclude that there is
a clear link between the quality reported when scanning the disc and the
playability of the disc in different devices. Also notice that different drives
report different amounts of errors. K-Probe was designed to work with
Lite-On
DVD-Writers, so we recommend
using a DVD-Writer from Lite-On. In this test we
use a Lite-On SHW-1635S
DVD-Writer, as already said; remember that scans done with a Lite-On
DVD-ROM or Lite-On combo
drive can't be compared with the results obtained with a Lite-On
DVD-Writer. Also remember that
different PI/PO ECC sum settings along
with different reading speeds in K-Probe will affect the result, we use these
settings;  PI (Parity Inner) set to summarize 8
ECC blocks,
PIF
(Parity Inner Failures) set
to summarize 1 ECC block,
reading speed: 4X CLV
(Constant Linear Velocity). Setting the PI sum to 8 and the
PIF sum to 1 will give
a result that we may compare to the standards for DVD+R/RW and
DVD-R/RW.

But what is a good
scan? That is a discussion that we don't think will end soon, as different
drives report different amount of errors, some players are more picky about
media than others, and so on. But as a comparison we present you with a scan
from two pressed DVD discs:

This scan shows the results from a pressed DVD-Video disc
(GoldenEye).

 

This scan shows the
result from a pressed DVD-Video disk (The Green Mile). Notice the error jump
when shifting to the second layer (the error level actually drops from the end
of the first layer to the beginning of the second layer).

If you read below,
you will see that both the pressed DVD-discs are well within the
standards.

Download the
ECMA 267 Standard for
DVD-ROM, the ECMA 337 Standard for
DVD+R/RW and the
ECMA 338 Standard for
DVD-R/RW at http://www.ecma-international.org if you
want to look at the standards for yourself. Here is some data from the
ECMA standards (same for
DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW):

Random
errors:

A row of an
ECC Block that has at least 1 byte in error
constitutes a PI error. In any 8
consecutive ECC
Blocks the total number of PI errors before correction shall not exceed
280.

Here we see that a
PI error is defined as a row in an ECC block having 1 byte
or more containing errors and that the sum of PI errors in 8 ECC blocks after each
other should not exceed 280 PI errors.

But what is a row
and what is an ECC block? Again we
refer to the ECMA standards. We do
not copy and paste everything, but if you're interested, look in the
ECMA standards. A row is
182 bytes long where the last 10 bytes contain PI (Parity Inner)
information. An ECC block is 208 rows
long where the last 16 rows contain the PO (Parity Outer)
information. This gives us a maximum possible PI error amount of 208 errors per
block and for 8 blocks after each other this sum is of course 8 times higher,
giving a maximum possible amount of 1664 PI-8 errors. In practical use, a disc
with 1664 PI-8 errors is unreadable.

According to our
tests the specified max PI-8 sum of 280 for good discs seems to be a good
guideline, as some readers have problems reading discs when the PI-8 errors is
over 300 and most players starts to have problems when the PI-8 error level
reaches 600 or more.

But what are the
PIF errors that K-Probe
reports? They are Parity Inner Failures, meaning errors left after PI
correction. Only the ECMA 337 standard
describes the Parity Inner Failures. So how is a Parity Inner Failure defined?
Here is what the ECMA 337
states:

'If a row
of an ECC Block as defined in 13.3 contains more than
5 erroneous bytes, the row is said to be 'PI-uncorrectable"."

In theory, an
ECC block may in the worst case have 208 PIF since every ECC block is 208
rows long. But the ECMA 337 standard goes further and
specifies the max amount of accepted PI Failures (uncorrectable errors) allowed on a good disc:

'In any
ECC Block
the number of PI-uncorrectable rows
should not exceed 4."  

This means that when
the PIF sum is set to 1,
the maximum error value should not exceed 4. The theoretical maximum value for
PIF is 208
errors.

But what makes a
disc unreadable? A POF (Parity
Outer Failure) error will make the disc unreadable, but K-Probe
does not display the POF's.

Notice that there
are other aspects such as disc reflectivity, jitter, tracking errors and so on
that also will affect the readability of a DVD disc '“ but for this we do not
have measuring equipment available.

Also, another note
is that we have scanned the discs at 4X CLV speed,
by lowering the speed to 2X(DVD-R/RW)/2.4X(DVD+R/RW) or 1X
the amount of reported errors may drop on some discs. We scanned at 4X
CLV due to lower speeds
taking too much time.

To see if there is a
connection between the reported amount of errors and readability of the discs we
also include the reading curve from a NEC ND-4551A DVD-Writer. The reason why we
have changed the reader is that some companies disliked that we used a modified
firmware to obtain 16x reading speed. So to please them, we are now using a
drive that reads DVD+R/-R media
at 16x as default. A small speed reduction near the end
is still accepted on good discs, but serious reading problems or reading
failures is a bad sign.

 

Easier
explanation on how to read the test results:

Maybe this got too
technical, and you are wondering what to look for in KProbe
reports?

Use this as a
guideline for good discs:

• PI (Parity
  Inner): No larger areas
  on the disc should exceed 280 PI-8 errors, do not worry too much about high
  single spikes that exceed 280.
  
• PIF (Parity Inner
  Failures): No larger areas
  on the disc should exceed 4 PIF-1 errors, do not worry too much about high
  single spikes that exceed 4.

And as always; lower
is better

And look at the
reading curve; if it looks clean with no dips it should be good, a small
slowdown near the end is accepted.

 

DVD+R media compatibility and write quality:

In these tests
we will be using a Lite-On SHW-1635S drive with firmware YS0V/YS0W along with
KProbe to measure the disc quality. We will also be using the NEC ND-4551A with
firmware 1-07 along with CD-Speed for our read-back tests.

Brand:	BenQ '“ Thanks to Daxon for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Daxon Inc.
Code:	DAXON AZ3
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:09s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.54
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.05

Very good
result!

Brand:	FUJIFILM
Manufacturer:	Prodisc Technology Inc.
Code:	PRODISC R05
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:3s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	46.18
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.10

Fujifilm media
with Prodisc media code. The KProbe result shows high PI errors, however it is
still within the specifications. From the read-back curve we can see a slowdown
near the end of the disc.

Brand:	Maxell
Manufacturer:	Maxell
Code:	MAXELL 003
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:24s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.37
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.00

Excellent
result.

Brand:	Philips
Manufacturer:	InfoMedia
Code:	INFOME R30
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:4s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	3.38
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

The result is
good.

Brand:	Plextor '“ Thanks to Plextor for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden Company Limited
Code:	YUDEN 000 T03
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:04s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	12.64
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

Plextor media
with Taiyo Yuden media code, the result is ok.

Brand:	Ricoh '“ Thanks to Ricoh Europe for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Ricoh Company Limited
Code:	RICOH JNP R03
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1x-16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:5s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	15.98
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

The result is
ok.

Brand:	RiDisc Xtreme '“ Thanks to E-net for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	RiTEK Corporation
Code:	RITEK P16
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	5m:58s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	7.05
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

RiDisc Xtreme
with Ritek media code, the result is good.

 

DVD+ReWritable media:

Brand:	Ricoh '“ Thanks to Ricoh Europe for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	RICOH Company Limited
Code:	RICOH JPNW21
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	7m:17s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	4.43
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

The result is
excellent for this DVD+RW media.

The result is
ok.

To sum it
up: So
far the NEC ND-4550 writes DVD+R and DVD+RW media with good/OK quality. Let's
find out how the drive will do on DVD-R/RW media.

On the next
page you will find the DVD-R/RW writing
results...

---

DVD-R media compatibility and write quality:

In these tests
we will be using a Lite-On SOHW-1635S drive with firmware YS0V/YS0W along with
KProbe to measure the disc quality. We will also be using the NEC ND-4551A with
firmware 1-07 along with CD-Speed for our read-back tests.

Brand:	BenQ '“ Thanks to Daxon for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Daxon Inc.
Code:	DAXON 016S
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:26s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	20.80
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.07

The result is
OK.

Brand:	Datasafe '“ Thanks to E-net for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MCC 03RG20
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:21s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.49
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.05

Datasafe
media, with Mitsubishi media code and the results are good.

Brand:	FujiFilm
Manufacturer:	Prodisc Technology Inc.
Code:	Prodisc F02
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:13s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	14.72
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.18

The result is
OK.

Brand:	Maxell
Manufacturer:	Maxell
Code:	MXLR G04
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:14s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.25
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03

The result is
excellent.

Brand:	Ricoh '“ Thanks to Ricoh Europe for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics
Code:	CMC MAG AM3
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:5s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	6.84
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.11

The result is
good.

Brand:	Taiyo Yuden unbranded '“ Thanks to SVP (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	TYG02
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	12x
Write Time:	7m:09s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	8.47
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.00

The results
are excellent.

Brand:	Taiyo Yuden unbranded '“ Thanks to SVP (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	TYG03
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x
Write Time:	6m:10s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	11.63
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03

The result is
good.

 

DVD-ReWritable media:

Brand:	Traxdata - Thanks to Conrexx Europe for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	RITEK
Code:	RITEK W06
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	6x
Write Speed:	6x
Write Time:	10m:39s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.17
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

Very good
results!

Brand:	Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM 01RW 6X01
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	6x
Write Speed:	6x
Write Time:	10m:39s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.84
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.00

The results
are excellent!

To sum it
up:
Overall, the write quality is good on DVD-R and DVD-RW media.

Head on to
next page and read about DVD+R DL compatibility and write
quality...

---

 

DVD Double/Dual Layer writing speed and compatibility:

The NEC ND-4550A supports the DVD+R DL/-R DL standard for writing Double Layer/Dual Layer discs with a size around 8.5 GB at a writing speed of 8x/6x.

Testing procedure:

We created an ISO Image from a pre-authored DVD-Video compliant file set, with a total on-disc size of 8103 MB. We then wrote this image file using Nero Burning ROM 6. Below are the results:

Ricoh Media

Nero reported a successful burn with the Ricoh media in 18 minutes 41 seconds.

Verbatim media

Nero once again completed the burn successfully with the Verbatim media in 18 minutes and 44 seconds.

Let us take a look at the K-Probe results:

Brand:	Ricoh '“ Thanks to Ricoh Europe (D) for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	Ricoh Co. Ltd.
Code:	RICOH JPN D01
Disc Type:	DVD+R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	18m:41s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	64.47
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.04

Even though KProbe showed some high PI/PIF spikes at the layer change, the reading curve did not show any problems during the read-back...

Brand:	Verbatim '“ Thanks to Verbatim (D) for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM 001
Disc Type:	DVD+R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	2.4x
Write Speed:	8x
Write Time:	18m:44s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	24.57
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.08

We can clearly see that the PI-errors are higher on the first layer then the second layer.

Let us compare the NEC ND-4550A results with some other DL capable drives.

*1 Verbatim DVD+R DL
*2 Traxdata DVD+R DL
*3 Ricoh DVD+R DL
*4 DataWrite DVD+R DL

DVD-R DL

As mentioned in the beginning of this page, the NEC ND-4550A supports the DVD-R DL standard at 6x. Again, we used Nero Burning Rom 6 to write the DVD Image:

The NEC ND-4550A used 20 minutes and 45 seconds to write the Verbatim DVD-R DL 4x media at 6x.

Brand:	Verbatim '“ Thanks to Verbatim for providing the sample.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM 01RD30
Disc Type:	DVD-R DL
Capacity:	8103MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	6x
Write Time:	20m:45s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	28.66
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.15

Even though the KProbe result showed high PI/PIF values, it did not affect the read back curve.

 

Standalone DVD-Player compatibility:

We only have 4 standalone DVD-Players and 1 standalone DVD+R/W recorder available to test the DVD+R DL media (BookType: DVD-ROM) and the DVD-R DL media (BookType: DVD-R) with:

• Aiwa DVD Player XD-DV370
• Medion DVD/DivX Player MD7457
• Medion DVD/DivX/NeroDigital Player MD80796  
• Red Star DVD-Player 230G
• Mustek R100A DVD+R/W Recorder

Compatibility results: 

All DVD Standalone devices played both the NEC ND-4550A burned DVD+R DL media. But only one DVD Standalone devices would play the DVD-R DL media.

We would like to mention, that the compatibility issue with standalone DVD Players/Recorders and the DVD-R DL media format is caused by incompatibilities with the standalone devices used in this review, and not the NEC ND-4550A or media format used.

Summary: The writing quality could need some improvements.

---

DVD-RAM:

The NEC
ND-4500A is a so-called Multi recorder, meaning is also supports the DVD-RAM
format.

This drive is
one of few drives that also support the DVD-RAM format, lets us look at the
recording side of the disc, and as you can see it got differences from the other
DVD+R/RW/R DL and DVD-R/RW/R DL discs.

 

You could see
a very fascinating pattern of darker spots, supposedly these spots are used for
calibration while writing and reading.

A DVD-RAM's
disc can be formatted in the following formats:

• FAT32
  
  
• UDF 1.02
  
  
• UDF 1.50
  
  
• UDF 2.00
  
  
• UDF 2.01
  
  
• UDF 2.50
  

By formatting
a DVD-RAM disc with FAT32 it will act like a removable hard drive and all
writing will be done in the 'background processes". Meaning you do not have to
wait for it to finish '“ you can start or work with other applications while the
DVD-RAM is working without noticing any 'hangs" or CPU slowdowns.

Lets us take a
look at the media we are going to use in these tests:

0000 - 16 0F 04 42 00 03 10 00 00 26 5F 5F 00 00 00 00 - ...B.....&__....
0010 - 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0020 - 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0030 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0040 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0050 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0060 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0070 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0080 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0090 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00F0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0100 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0110 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0120 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0130 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0140 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0150 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0160 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0170 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0180 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0190 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01F0 - 00 00 00 00 52 0A 00 71 2C 2C 2C 6E 2A 2A 2A 1A - ....R..q,,,n***.
0200 - 1A 00 00 11 22 05 02 81 81 05 02 81 81 06 03 00 - ...."...........
0210 - 81 06 03 00 00 0A 0B 0C 0C 0A 0B 0C 0C 09 0A 0B - ................
0220 - 0B 09 0A 0B 0B 4F 70 74 6F 64 69 73 63 20 54 65 - .....Optodisc.Te
0230 - 63 68 6E 6F 6C 6F 67 79 20 43 6F 72 70 6F 72 61 - chnology.Corpora
0240 - 74 69 6F 6E 20 0D 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 - tion............
0250 - 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0260 - 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 82 00 6A 2C 2C 2C 82 94 96 - .........j,,,...

Panasonic branded DVD-RAM media
certified at 2-5x:

0000 - 16 0F 04 42 00 03 10 00 00 26 5F 5F 00 00 00 00 - ...B.....&__....
0010 - 80 20 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 22 00 00 00 00 - ..........."....
0020 - 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0030 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0040 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0050 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0060 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0070 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0080 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0090 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00F0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0100 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0110 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0120 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0130 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0140 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0150 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0160 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0170 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0180 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0190 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01F0 - 00 00 00 00 52 0A 00 79 36 36 36 73 34 34 34 1A - ....R..y666s444.
0200 - 1A 00 00 11 22 81 85 88 88 00 85 88 88 01 84 87 - ...."...........
0210 - 87 01 84 87 87 0A 0C 0E 0E 0A 0C 0E 0E 09 0B 0D - ................
0220 - 0D 08 0B 0D 0D 4D 58 4C 31 36 0D 20 20 20 20 20 - .....MXL16......
0230 - 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 - ................
0240 - 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 - ................
0250 - 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0260 - 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 79 04 70 36 36 36 79 80 80 - .......y.p666y..

0000 - 16 0F 04 42 00 03 10 00 00 26 5F 5F 00 00 00 00 - ...B.....&__....
0010 - 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0020 - 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0030 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0040 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0050 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0060 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0070 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0080 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0090 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00F0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0100 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0110 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0120 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0130 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0140 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0150 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0160 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0170 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0180 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0190 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01F0 - 00 00 00 00 52 0A 00 7B 34 34 34 77 2F 2F 2F 1A - ....R..{444w///.
0200 - 1A 00 00 11 22 05 02 00 00 05 02 00 00 06 03 01 - ...."...........
0210 - 00 06 04 02 01 0A 0B 0B 0C 0A 0B 0B 0C 09 0A 0B - ................
0220 - 0B 09 0A 0B 0B 52 49 54 45 4B 20 4D 30 32 00 00 - .....RITEK.M02..
0230 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0240 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0250 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0260 - 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 82 00 74 33 33 82 7E 7F 00 - .........t33.~..

0000 - 16 0F 04 42 00 03 10 00 00 26 5F 5F 00 00 00 00 - ...B.....&__....
0010 - 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0020 - 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0030 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0040 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0050 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0060 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0070 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0080 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0090 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
00F0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0100 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0110 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0120 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0130 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0140 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0150 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0160 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0170 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0180 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
0190 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01B0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01C0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01D0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01E0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................
01F0 - 00 00 00 00 52 0A 00 71 2C 2C 2C 6E 2A 2A 2A 1A - ....R..q,,,n***.
0200 - 1A 00 00 11 22 05 02 81 81 05 02 81 81 06 03 00 - ...."...........
0210 - 81 06 03 00 00 0A 0B 0C 0C 0A 0B 0C 0C 09 0A 0B - ................
0220 - 0B 09 0A 0B 0B 4D 61 74 73 75 73 68 69 74 61 20 - .....Matsushita.
0230 - 45 6C 65 63 74 72 69 63 20 49 6E 64 75 73 74 72 - Electric.Industr
0240 - 69 61 6C 20 43 4F 2E 2C 4C 54 44 2E 0D 20 20 20 - ial.CO.,LTD.....
0250 - 20 20 20 20 20 4D 30 31 4A 33 30 30 32 0D 20 20 - .....M01J3002...
0260 - 20 20 20 20 20 01 01 82 00 6A 2C 2C 2C 82 94 96 - .........j,,,...

But now the
interesting part '“ writing and reading DVD-RAM media.

Emgeton DVD-RAM 3x without
verification

Panasonic DVD-RAM 5x without
verification

Panasonic DVD-RAM 5x with
verification

Traxdata DVD-RAM 3x without
verification

Traxdata DVD-RAM 3x with
verification

Verbatim DVD-RAM 3x without
verification

For those not
familiar with DVD-RAM, you might think that something went wrong during the
write process, when the verification option is turned on - since the
5x media was written at approximately 2.04x and the 3x media written at
approximately 1.20x. But do not worry - that is pretty normal for DVD-RAM discs,
the reason for the 'low" speed is '“ the drive constantly reads back the data
after writing it to verify that it's written correctly. We can also call it a
'bullet proof" writing/verify technique '“ with no data loss/errors.

Another
advantage with DVD-RAM is that the discs can be formatted/erased/written at over
100.000 times before it will/can cause/report any errors. Let's try to read back
the discs that we wrote:

Emgeton DVD-RAM 3x

Panasonic DVD-RAM 5x

Traxdata DVD-RAM 3x

Verbatim DVD-RAM 3x

As we can see
from the pictures above, all media was read back at 5x using the CLV
technique.

Since we have
no equipment at the present time to perform any quality measuring tests with the
DVD-RAM format it will be skipped, but on the other side it should not be
necessary since the RAM writer - verifies the written data by default itself.

Before we
round off this review, let us run the drive through some advanced tests at next
page…

---

To round off
this review, we will run some advanced tests on the NEC ND-4550A. These tests
are: 'Sheep Test", protected audio discs and some special disc tests.

The 'Sheep Test":

 For this test, we will use
the Sheep tests made by Alexander Noé. Why is it
called sheep test? That's because the logo of the first 1 to 1 copy program
called CloneCD is a sheep. When
looking at supported writers, you will notice that the feature list has sheep to
indicate if a feature is supported or not. In this case we are interested
in the writer's ability to backup/write weak sectors.
Also called: 'Correct EFM encoding of regular
bit-patterns".

• No sheep: Can't backup any
  Safedisc 2
  versions without the help of software tricks
  
  
• 1 Sheep:
  Can backup Safedisc 2 up to version 2.4x without software tricks
  
  
• 2 Sheep:
  Can backup Safedisc 2, including version
  2.5x
  
• 3 Sheep:
  Can write all possible weak sectors, few if any writers could do
  this.

One of our
forum moderators Womble, has written a guide concerning the
'Sheep Test" that can be found here.

In the
screenshot below taken from CloneCD, we see the NEC ND-4550A supports
everything.

The NEC
ND-4550A supports DAO-RAW recording mode, which basically means, it can write
uncorrected data and sub-channel data.

As we can see
from the table the NEC ND-4550A is a 'Two Sheep Burner", but it however failed
to write the Safedisc V2.90 and Sheep3 tests.

 

Copy protected Audio:

For our
protected audio test, we used the Exact Audio Copy program. We inserted the
protected audio discs and if the drive was able to recognize the disc we tried
to extract the music tracks to the hard drive. First let us look at the discs we
had available for this test: 

Celine Dion: A
New Day Has Come; protected with key2audio version 3.

 

Herbert
Gé¶nemeyer: Mensch - This disc is protected with Cactus Datashield 200.0.4
.3(build 12b)

And Michelle:
Leben!; protected with Cactus Datashield 200.5.1.91 '“ 5.10.090.

Results:

 

Overburning:

To test the
overburning capabilities of the NEC ND-4550A, we used the over-burning test in
Nero CD/DVD-Speed.

CD-R:

For this test
we used an Infiniti Professional Compax 99min/900mb CD-R. (Thanks to Medea
International (UK) for providing the disc).

According to
Nero CD/DVD speed the drive can overburn around 92 minutes.

To test if the
NEC ND-4550A is capable to read overburned CD-Rs, we used a 90:10 minutes
CD-R:

As we can see
for the picture above the NEC ND-4550A had no problems reading the 90:10 minutes
CD-R.

DVD+R/-R:

We also tried
to overburn DVD+R/-R media:

According to
Nero CD-DVD Speed this function is not supported on DVD+R/-R media by the NEC
ND-4500A.

This
concludes our NEC ND-4550A review, let us head on to the last page to read our
conclusion…

Positive:

• Supports
  DVD±R/+R DL/-R DL writing at 16x/8x/6x
  
• Supports
  CD-R/RW writing at 48x/32x
  
• Can write
  DVD±R/±R DL certified media at higher speed
  
• Good media
  support and compatibility on DVD±R
  
• Supports
  Bitsetting for DVD+R DL (sets auto. BookType to DVD-ROM)
  
• Supports
  disc quality scanning
  
• Can read
  DVD±R/RW at 16x/13x
  
• Reads
  DVD-Video SL/DVD-Video DL at 16x/12x


• Can copy/rip copy-protected
  Audio-CDs


• 'Two sheep"
  writer
  
• Supports
  DAO-RAW writing
  
• Can
  overburn CD-Rs (around 92 minutes)
  
• Very good
  user community support with several programs and modifications to get the most
  out of the drive.
  
• Good retail
  and software package
  
• The
  hardware components are 'lead-free"

 

Negative:

• Does not
  support Mt. Rainier
  
• No support
  for DVD-R DL 4x media with RiTEK MID
  
• Reads
  CD-RW/CD-DA only at 40x
  
• No
  Bitsetting support (BookType - DVD-ROM) on DVD+R/RW media
  
• Green LED
  for both reading and writing

 

Conclusion:

Let us
summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main
positive points: The NEC ND-4550A being a so
called 'Multi Recorder" and supports recording on currently available media
formats (CD-R/CW, DVD+R/+RW/+R DL and DVD-R/-RW/-RAM/-R DL).

The NEC
ND-4550A can write CD-R/RW media with excellent/very good quality, and can write
those media types at high speed. DVD±R/RW writing quality is good with most
media, and once again the NEC ND-4550A can burn the media fairly
quickly.

DVD±R/RW media
compatibility was also excellent with the NEC ND-4550A, with all our tested
media burning at its rated, or faster than its rated speed.

DVD-RAM is
well implemented on the NEC ND-4550A, Not only can the drive write at 5x using a
fast CLV writing method, it can also read DVD-RAM media, regardless of the
disc's rated speed at 5x, again using a fast CLV reading method.

During our
tests the NEC ND-4550A excelled at ripping audio CD's. The reading performance
is excellent, and the DAE quality is also excellent, making the NEC ND-4550A an
excellent choice for audio ripping.

The NEC
ND-4550A also allowed selected DVD±R media to be burned at higher than its rated
speed. This can save a lot of time during the burn process.

The supplied
Nero Express software suite is also a very good, with a nice balance of features
and ease of use.

This DVD
writer is also one of those burners that has a very good user community support
with several programs and modifications to get 'the most out of the drive". (Be
aware, that most of these programs and modifications will VOID the drives
warranty).

As a last
point we would like to mention that this DVD burner are a 'lead-free" product,
which will meets the recycling standards that came into effect on the 1st of
January 2006.

The main
negative points: There are not too many negative
things to say about the NEC ND-4550A. But we did note a few things we would like
to see improved.

Although
writing quality with DVD±R media was overall good, the writing quality with some
media could be improved.

DVD±R DL
writing quality, although within specification could also be improved, as some
of our tested media had fairly high PI/PIF errors. DVD-R DL media could also be
improved. In our test the DVD-R DL manufactured by RITEK was not supported by
the drive. This however, should be easy to correct with a firmware
update.

We would also
like to see Bitsetting for DVD+R/RW media, to set BookType to DVD-ROM, as this
would help improve compatibility with older set top players.

We would also
like to see a dual coloured LED, with one colour used for read and a different
colour used for writing, instead of the present single coloured green
LED.

To sum it all
up, this is what we would say: 'The NEC
ND-4550A is a well specified drive with good overall performance".
 However, there are areas where the drive could be improved.

 

By using our
price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we did not find any offers, but
at getprice the
drive is listed at 42 €. (January 2005).

 

You
may comment on this review below or in this
forum thread.

 

Thanks
to:

Bell
Technology spol s.r.o. '“ Czech Republic for providing the media used
in this review.

 

Conrexx Technology B.V./RITEK
Europe '“ The Netherlands for providing the media used in this
review.

 

 Daxon Technology
Inc '“ Taiwan for providing the BenQ media used in this
article.

 

E-Net
Distribution '“ United Kingdom for providing the media used in this
review.

Medea
International '“ United Kingdom for providing the media used in this
review.

MMORE
International B.V. - The Netherlands for providing the media used in
this review.

 

 

Plextor SA/NV '“
Belgium for providing the media used is this article.

Ricoh Europe '“ For
providing the media used in this review.

 

SVP
Communication '“ The United Kingdom for
providing the media used in this review.

 

Verbatim - Germany and United Kingdom for providing the
media used in this review.