NEC ND-3540A DVD Burner


 





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Review:
NEC
ND-3540A
Reviewer:
Jan70
Provided by: NEC
Germany
Firmware:
1.01
Manufactured: May
2005


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NEC Germany, was
kind enough to send us their latest DVD-writer the NEC ND-3540A. This drive
supports 16x DVD+R/-R writing, 8x/6x DVD+RW/-RW and 8x/6x DVD+R DL/-R DL writing
technology - allowing Double 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:

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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
































































































1985    


NEC
Deutschland GmbH is founded.

         

1986    


NEC
brings the first monitor with MultiSync® technology onto the market. It
can adapt to different graphic standards automatically and therefore
becomes the model for today's multi-frequency monitors.

 

1987


NEC
offers one of the first 24-pin printers, the legendary P6, which is still
used and asked for by many users throughout the
world. 

         

1988 


With
the LC series, NEC offers the first heavy-duty laser printers for office
applications.

 

The
MultiSync® models 2A, 3D, 4D and 5D are the first monitors with 360°
design and digital control technology for easy screen adaptation to
individual tasks and user requirements. 


1989

 

1991


NEC
introduces the MultiSync® FG series, offering the first 15" monitor on the
market. 


1992


NEC
revolutionises the laser printer market with GDI and offers the first GDI
laser printer under 1000 marks. GDI is still used in a similar form by
many other manufacturers.

         

1993


NEC
creates a price sensation with the Superscript 3000, a thermosublimation
colour printer with photorealistic printing quality.

         

1996


NEC
develops CromaClear™ technology and sets a new standard for picture
quality in 15"- and 17" monitors. The CromaClear™ slot mask combines the
advantages of previous hole and aperture grill masks to provide an
extremely clear, brilliant and uniformly bright picture.

     

1996 


NEC,
together with Adobe, develops a new generation of laser printers by
introducing PrintGear* technology. This page description language, which
is similar to Postscript and optimised for office applications, results in
previously unheard of printing performance at extremely economical
prices.

         

1997


NEC
is the first manufacturer to mass produce 20" LCD monitors. The LCD 2000
will be offered on the German market in August, again putting NEC well
ahead of the competition in
innovation.
      
                                              

         

2000


On
the 1st July this year, the new enterprise NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual
Systems Corp. (NMV) went operational in Europe and the USA. The joint
venture between NEC and Mitsubishi Electric involves the amalgamation of
the monitor manufacturing activities and know how of both companies, with
the aim of obtaining greater market share through a stronger presence in
the market. Since then, NEC Deutschland GmbH focuses exclusively on sales
and marketing of hi-res plasmadisplays and projectors, rotating memories
and telecommunication products.


2001


NEC is the
first manufacturer to supply the world-wide largest in series 61-inches
plasma display with diagonals up to 1.55 meters.

             

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 what the drive came shipped with and take a look at the
drive and its technology.



Front



This sticker looks
interesting



Back



Left/Right side



Top



Bottom


Below you will
see the contents of the retail box:




  • The
    internal ND-3540 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-3540 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 '“ May 2005.



Underside


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



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:


 


From the
screenshot of Nero InfoTool above, we miss Mt. Rainier
support and a larger buffer size. Our drive came shipped with firmware
1.01.


And another
shot from Nero Burning ROM:


 


We do not
really find anything alarming here, but Mt. Rainier and a larger buffer would
have been nice.


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 and the
included software…………


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