AfterDawn: News

NEC ND-3530A and LiteON SOHW-1673S reviewed

NEC and LiteON are one of the most popular DVD recorders holding a substantial market share. They both have a reputation for offering decent quality with a modest price tag. NEC did an excellent job with the previous 3520, so it is interesting to see does the 3530 continue that trend. LiteON's on the other hand have received some critique about their recording quality - the previous 1653 needs premium quality media for good results, but perhaps the 1673 is able to improve on that?

NEC, the well known burner manufacturer, recently announced their newest model, the NEC ND-3530A. Although there are already many NEC models that can burn DVD R and DVD-R media at 16x, which is considered the maximum speed that single layer media can achieve, the new ND-3530A has even more to offer. Re-Writing speed is increased to 8x for DVD RW and 6x for DVD-RW media. The drive supports both -R DL and R DL media at 4x and 6x burning speeds respectively.

Source: CDRInfo.com

One of the latest additions to Lite-On's rapidly growing lineup of DVD writers is the SOHW-1673S. Announced in January, the SOHW-1673S sports some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds currently available. The drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD RW, 6x DVD-RW and 4x DVD R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Of course, the SOHW-1673S can do more than read and write DVD's. Lite-On's new drive also boasts 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 24x rewriting speeds, and support for technologies like SMART-BURN and SMART-X.

Source: CDRLabs.com

Written by: Lasse Penttinen @ 20 May 2005 7:45

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• 13 comments

• Alien13

  Hmmm i wonder if you can upgrade the firmware of a diff version to this now or later?

  20.5.2005 19:30 #1

• webhedreg

  I have always used NEC burners (currently a 3520) and so far have never had any problems. They always write to any media I have tried and have never gone wrong. Upgrading of firmware has always been extremely easy and never failed. I have used a LiteOn DVD Rom which went wrong within 3 days, I know it can happen on other kit and people have probably had the same experience with NEC, but I for one, will never touch LiteOn again.

  22.5.2005 14:27 #2

• jetyi83

  plextor is the only way to go.. why would you waste your money on a sht quality burner when they are only like 20-60 bucks cheaper.
  

  22.5.2005 21:25 #3

• novicebb

  @Webhedreg So you like the NEC 3520 so far? I just created a thread asking the difference in performance between the NEC 3500 and the 3520 and now I am more interested in the 3530 but with the constant upgrades I wonder why would I get it now and not just wait until a later date.
  I have never heard anything bad about NEC burners so I don't know why Jetyi83 is tripping calling it shyt. Yes Plextor is great but I would only get plextor in the SATA connection instead of the ide but I wonder why DVD burners haven't all switch to SATA and have atleast 8mb buffer yet?
  
  

  27.5.2005 12:14 #4

• webhedreg

  Over in the UK the latest NEC is the 3540, all this has added is the ability to burn DL +R DVD at 8 instead of 6 speed. As I don't use DL discs this does not add anything for me, the costs are still too high for these disks. As far as describing these drives as sht, then I agree, there is no justification at all. The quality of the drives in both reliability and performance is such that they have got a very good reputation. I have looked at plenty of feedback on sites before buying, and there are always more negative comments listed to Plextor than NEC. Regardless of what components Plextor use, if the end result is no better than what is produced on the NEC, then it comes down to personal preference. I prefer to spend my money on keeping my PC system at a high spec. I especially don't see the need to spend extra money just for the sake of it.
  PC SPEC:
  ASUS SK8V Motherboard. FX53 939 Pin CPU. 2MB RECC Corsair Twin X memory. 4x SATA WD 74GB Raptor RAID drives. ATI XT800PE Graphics. NEC 3520 Burner. Sony DVD ROM. Antec True Power 550W PSU.
  

  27.5.2005 23:58 #5

• Gulfwindx

  FACE IT NEC RULE'S Absolutely the best in there price Point PERIOD.........

  2.6.2005 06:34 #6

• novicebb

  You said it and please say it again.

  2.6.2005 10:16 #7

• Mr-Movies

  I don't know what jetyi83 is smoking but burn one for me! I've used Plextor a lot and and you can have compatability problems with them as well as the others. Not only that but when you add $60 to a $50 dollar drive you've doubled the price. Both Plextor and NEC are good drives but the nice thing about Lite-On is they rule when it comes to Game Protection schemes so over all I'd go with Lite-On and they tend to be the cheapest as well. Also I've flashed many Lite-On's to exceed their native speeds and have yet to run into any problems.

  14.6.2005 20:49 #8

• novicebb

  To the above individual. Can you pm me and explain what you mean but flash the Liteon drives to accomplish speeds faster than default speeds.

  15.6.2005 14:08 #9

• creaky

  i am considering buying a 3540A as they're a measly £35 in UK.
  

  Creaky B
  
  ECS EZ Buddie case (v small & sexy), Athlon XP 2800+, 1GB PC2700
  Ambient - 27C, CPU Idle - 59C, CPU working - 68C : not too bad for case with limited airflow.
  WinXP SP2, Sony DRU-700A & LG-4480B, 120GB Seagate ATA100 8MB Buffer.
  Verbatim DataLifePlus (MCC02RG20) -R 8x, Taiyo Yuden (TYG02) -R 8x.
  Creative Inspire 5.1 GD580 for DVD,PS2 & PC
  ..Newbies pls see this - cheapy media is BAD..... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/193298
  ..Memorex/CMC - don't let them near your Burner..... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/195438
  Two Threads for Helping With Shrink & Decrypter -
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/1/200558#1083526
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/198921

  25.6.2005 07:01 #10

• novicebb

  I am thinking about it as well. Newegg has a sale for 48.99 and free shipping in the US

  25.6.2005 10:36 #11

• jetyi83

  can you really compare a 2mb buffer with 8?
  
  2mb isnt anything, you can run errors all day long opening up explorer.
  
  plextors can have compatability problems yes, but no more than any other drive, and you update your firmware to work with all. Ive never had any problems with good media. im 5000 burns deep with my drive and its still working perfect. plextor is just more quality, and when it comes to burning i dont like wasting time having to reburn stuff a month later when i find out it has skips in it.

  4.8.2005 10:44 #12

• Mr-Movies

  I've been using Lite-On's for many years and I can't remember the last time I had a bad burn. 8MB buffer is real nice and Plextor drives are great but at 3 or 4 times the price is it worth it, if so great, but I'll stay with Lite-On. The only drives I've had problems with and know others have too is Samsung's and Toshiba's which is the same company now or affiliated. XP doesn't see the Samsung as a DVD burner it thinks it is a CD drive but in most cases will still work as a DVD burner, however not always.
  
  I’m a bang for your buck guy but it is nice to buy a Cadillac sometimes so if you like Plextor who can argue that.
  

  4.8.2005 16:34 #13