NEC ND-4550A DVD-Writer Review


 





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Review:
NEC ND-4550A
Reviewer: Jan70
Provided by: NEC
Germany
Firmware:
1.07
Manufactured: October
2005


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NEC Germany, was
kind enough to send us one of their latest DVD-writer the NEC ND-4550A. This
drive supports 16x DVD+R/-R, 5x DVD-RAM, 8x/6x DVD+RW/-RW writing and 8x/6x
DVD+R DL/-R DL writing technology - allowing Double/Dual 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


















































































1987   


NEC
Deutschland GmbH is founded.


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 the drive and its technology.


Below you will
see the contents:





  • The
    internal ND-4550 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-4550 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 '“ October 2005.



Underside


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



Side



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:


 


Our drive came
shipped with firmware 1.06 and was later updated to 1.07 (see below):





A screenshot
from Nero InfoTool after the firmware update:



From the
screenshot of Nero InfoTool above, we miss Mt.Rainier and a larger buffer
size.


Another shot
from Nero Burning ROM:


 


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…………


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