Introduction
Many thanks must to goto BigPockets for sending us this DVD+RW dual layer drive to review for our CDR-Zone readers.
Doubling the capacity of previous drives to provide 8.5Gb of storage space
NEC's first double layer device offers the user multi-format compatibility as well as offering advanced solution for digital media recording and PC back-up.
The NEC is the amongst the first drives to support D/L media, as well as boasting some very good single layer format speeds too. The NEC 2510A allows for recording of 8.5GB of data or video one one DVD+R D/L disc at a speed of 2.4x and is set to take away the need for compression when trying to fit the really long home movie of your wedding onto your media that was needed for single layer ( DVD 5) media. Also now it is possible to take away the need for multi DVD disc spanning when that image of your PC that you like to keep safe is too big for one DVD 5 media.
The ND-2510A incorporates NEC's 'high resolution writing strategy' and 'Active Optimized Power Control' (Active OPC) to enhance the quality of written data. Active OPC dynamically monitors writing power and reflection of the media in use, calculating the optimum laser power and adjusting it in real-time, to overcome issues such as fingerprints on a disc.
The drive comes both in White and Black versions with a silver version to hopefully follow soon, meaning their will be a model to suit and blend in with almost all cases out there.
In this review we will try various 4x and 8x+/- DVD Single Layer media with the NEC 2510A to see if it has good backward compatibility with present day single media as well as Double layer DVD+R Dual Layer media. Double layer media has still not hit our shelves ( probably beginning of September 2004 ) and will be very expensive for the first 6 months or until it becomes more popular so having good support for single layer media is a must for any Double Layer recorder that comes on to the market at the moment.
To verify media compatability, we will also run disc scans, file checking and verification tests with VSO Inspector, Nero Info Tool, CDCheck and DVDInfo Pro to see if the recorded media contains any errors after recording with this new drive.The recorded media will be played in various PC and standalone DVD players to see if there is smooth playback, or if any 'skipping' or 'jerking'.
The firmware used for this review was the stock 2.15 that came shipped with the drive.
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