Test machine:

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

• Hardware:
• Laptop: IBM ThinkPad R40
• Processor: Intel Pentium M 1400 MHz
• RAM: 512 MB RAM
• GFX: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
• Sound: SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
• Hard disk: IBM IC25N040ATMR04-0
• System set-up:

The NEC ND-7551A was connected as Secondary Master and identified itself as _NEC DVD_RW ND-7551A. 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 6.6.1.4
• Nero CD/DVD Speed V4.11
• Nero Info Tool v3.07
• Slysoft CloneCD v5.2.6.1
• Exact Audio Copy v0.95 beta 3
• K-Probe v2.5.2

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.

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the NEC ND-7551A:

CD-Recordable:

The NEC ND-7551A uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 24X. This gives an average speed of 11.45x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 9 seconds.

CD-Rewritable:

The NEC ND-7551A uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) writing technology to write at 20X for CD-RW discs, the average speed is 16.06x and the total time 6 minutes and 18 seconds.

8X DVD+R/-R Writing speed:

The NEC ND-7551A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at the maximum supported speed of 8x. This gives an average write speed of 5.95x and a writing time of 11 minutes 11 seconds.

The NEC ND-7551A uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R at its maximum speed of 8x. This gives an average write speed of 5.21x and a writing time of 14 minutes and 8 seconds.

4X DVD+R DL writing speed:

The NEC ND-7551A supports 4x writing speed on DVD+R DL media.

The NEC ND-7551A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 4x. Two zones are used to write DVD+R Double Layer discs at 4x on the first layer. The second layer was only written at 2.4x. The average speed is 3.16x and total writing time is 37:11 minutes.

4X DVD-R DL writing speed:

The NEC ND-7551A supports 4x writing speed on DVD-R DL media.

The NEC ND-7551A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL at 4x. Two zones are used to write DVD-R Double Layer discs at 4x. The average speed is 3.81x and total writing time is 31:18 minutes.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

The NEC ND-7551A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 5.21x and total writing time is 12:35 minutes. Interesting is the quite uncommon starting speed of 3.4x

6X DVD-RW writing speed:

The NEC ND-7551A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 5.07x and total writing time is 14:03 minutes.

BookType (Bitsetting):

The NEC ND-7551A 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-7551A 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-7551A drive can NOT be compared to scans done with other DVD writers).

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 v6.6 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…

Introduction

Reading performance