Any comments on NEC 3520A

[qahwah]

I am giving up my Pioneer DVR-108 and thinking about getting an NEC dvd burner. 3520A is the only model available from newegg.com. My NEC 2500A works just fine, wasted only two of my DVD -/+R after burning more than 100 disks (when I was using disk copy). So I am hoping that 3250A is at least as good as 2500A.

Anybody has experience with NEC 3520A, any comments? Thanks.

 

[flamingspinach]

It is very very new. Hard to say - but most of the reviewers say it's just as good if not better than the NEC ND-3500A, which got rave reviews.

Here is a forum thread about it.

 

[Skyhack]

I bought the beige NEC 3520A from Newegg about a week ago. Been burning Fuji (Taiyo Yudens) 8X R+ discs at 16X without any problem whatsoever. The backups I made play in every DVD player I have in the house (4) ranging from a 2 year old JVC to a new (cheap) Cyberhome Sam's Club Special.

NEC firmware to support bitsetting on R+ discs to improve compatibility is supposed to be out by March. There are already "hacked" firmwares available, but they void your warranty...

Not sure how low the PI/PO errors are, but according to those who have tested, it's pretty low.

 

[qahwah]

Thanks for the information! I think this one is worth trying. I'll like it if it's just as good as my 2500A.

 

[Yanagi]

How do you burn 8x media at 16x? I cant get my 4x memorex media to burn faster than 4x in nero. Theres no option to select faster burning speed? I got a 3500A which is basicly the same model as the 3520A

 

[Imyourzero]

Why are you giving up on your Pioneer DVR-108? When it came out (around the same time as the NEC 3500A) everybody was raving about what a great burner it was. I thought the Pioneer and NEC were supposed to be pretty close in quality...

 

[Skyhack]

Originally posted by: Yanagi
How do you burn 8x media at 16x? I cant get my 4x memorex media to burn faster than 4x in nero. Theres no option to select faster burning speed? I got a 3500A which is basicly the same model as the 3520A

The NEC3520 has a different chipset than the 3500, so they're not basically the same drive. But I've read plenty of results on other websites where people who have 3500s are burning at 16X, It's media and firmware dependant. A full 4,7 GB disc burns in a little over 6 minutes.

 

[qahwah]

I bought a Pioneer DVR-108 last week, maybe I was just unlucky. It refused to burn DVD+R or CD-RW or erase CD-RW disks. I have tried everything I could, enabling the DMA manually or let the BIOS do it automatically. And tried DVR-108 on a desktop as well as a laptop using an enclosure (IEEE 1934), and wasted quite a few DVD+R disks. I had it returned to save some time and some DVD+R media. I believe it is supposed to be good, I bought it because of so many good reviews on it. But the one I got just doesn't work for me.

Originally posted by: Imyourzero
Why are you giving up on your Pioneer DVR-108? When it came out (around the same time as the NEC 3500A) everybody was raving about what a great burner it was. I thought the Pioneer and NEC were supposed to be pretty close in quality...

 

[qahwah]

My 2500A automatically burns at the speed of 6x on the 4x Ridata DVD+R disks. For the DVD-R media I have, although it says 4x, my 2500A burns at 2x, and the Pioneer DVR-108 burns it at 4x (which is the only good thing I see from the Pioneer DVR-108 I had). I don't see any opition on Nero either. Have no idea how they decide the writing speed.

Originally posted by: Yanagi
How do you burn 8x media at 16x? I cant get my 4x memorex media to burn faster than 4x in nero. Theres no option to select faster burning speed? I got a 3500A which is basicly the same model as the 3520A

 

[racefan]

Originally posted by: qahwah
I bought a Pioneer DVR-108 last week, maybe I was just unlucky. It refused to burn DVD+R or CD-RW or erase CD-RW disks. I have tried everything I could, enabling the DMA manually or let the BIOS do it automatically. And tried DVR-108 on a desktop as well as a laptop using an enclosure (IEEE 1934), and wasted quite a few DVD+R disks. I had it returned to save some time and some DVD+R media. I believe it is supposed to be good, I bought it because of so many good reviews on it. But the one I got just doesn't work for me.

Originally posted by: Imyourzero
Why are you giving up on your Pioneer DVR-108? When it came out (around the same time as the NEC 3500A) everybody was raving about what a great burner it was. I thought the Pioneer and NEC were supposed to be pretty close in quality...

I would RMA it then and get a replacement. It is your money but why buy another new one when yours is only a week old? I love my NEC 3500 by the way.

 

[Brian23]

Get a Benq 1620A

 

[SickBeast]

I'd go with the NEC. I've been disappointed with my Pioneer 109. It won't burn Ritek G05 media faster than 4X unless I use hacked firmware. Unless I'm using counterfeit media, the firmware has got issues.

 

[Kelvrick]

I'd go with the NEC. Loving my 3520 so far. 3530 is coming out soon, but that'll have another 2x burning dual layer.

I burn my TY's at 12x right now. Can go at 16x, but the buffer takes hits if I start doing things.

 

[walkure]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
I'd go with the NEC. Loving my 3520 so far. 3530 is coming out soon, but that'll have another 2x burning dual layer.

I burn my TY's at 12x right now. Can go at 16x, but the buffer takes hits if I start doing things.

Hey Kelvrick, what are you other system specs (mainly CPU, RAM, and HDD)? I have always used TY media for CDR burning and now am assuming they will have excellent quality DVD+/-R's as well. So you're saying that you could burn 16x no problem as long as you're not doing anything else on the computer? That's what I wanted to clarify.

I bought the 3520 from NEC myself... we'll see how it goes once I get this rig put together!

 

[qahwah]

You are right, I returned it to newegg.com this morning and I just ordered an NEC 3520A. Thanks to newegg.com, they responsed quickly with an approved RMA number (no restocking fee). The shipping is $5.xx.

I would RMA it then and get a replacement. It is your money but why buy another new one when yours is only a week old? I love my NEC 3500 by the way.

 

[Yossairian]

Originally posted by: qahwah


Anybody has experience with NEC 3520A, any comments? Thanks.

:thumbsup: Love mine.

 

[qahwah]

I got mine this afternoon. Just love it. It writes at 8x on the Ridata 4x DVD+R. It's price goes down about $2 after I placed the order, but I got a free gift then. It doesn't matter anyways.

I used Nero to test the drive on a DVD+R disk (3.23GB). The reading speed is 10.83x on average, starting at 6.56x and ending at 14.14x. etc.

In short, it's a great drive.