NEC 3500a or Pioneer DVR-108

[Red]

Update Bought the NEC 3500a a couple days after my original post below. It's a great drive, but you certainly won't go wrong with the Pioneer either! They both use NEC chips. You won't go wrong either way


NEC 3500a cost = $85 shipped
Pioneer cost = $90 shipped

I've tried to find reviews online, but they aren't that great yet because the firmwares are young. From what I understand, the Pioneer cannot do bitsetting, but then again, I don't even know what that is?

From the reviews, here is what I understand about the differences:

NEC Pros: $5 cheaper, uses 16X CAV burning instead of Z-CLV like the Pioneer (better quality burns?) Able to bitset (once again, I don't know if this is important)

Pioneer Pros: Burns 16x faster because it starts burning @ 6x instead of 4x like the NEC. Apparently pioneer has a better reputation for working with various media (less picky than the NEC?)

Uhg, help me decide =( I'm sure they are both good drives, I just want to be able to burn the highest quality discs at 8x and higher and work with a lot of DVD players, I am not really worried about Dual Layer discs because they cost so much.

Thanks guys, I need to place the order today =)

 

[yankeesfan]

i think that the popuar opinion will be the NEC

 

[Nickel020]

Well, I couldn't find reviews either but I went along and bought the NEC because it can do 48x CD while the Pioneer only does 32x.

 

[whitelight]

i think i'm going to buy the pioneer and another cd-rw for fast cd burns (but it's not like a minute off the burn is a big deal).

 

[Budman]

Pioneer 108

 

[Davegod]

Without a doubt, this is the best DVD Recorder that we have tested to date. We are looking forward to catching a glimpse of some of the BenQ and NEC solutions in the upcoming weeks, but until we can obtain samples, we have to claim the Pioneer DVR-108D as our recommendation for best DVD recorder. The nearly identical NEC 3500A specifications excite us, and we are anticipating looking at the drive later this month. Particularly, the drive may have promise for those interested in bit setting capabilities (which are not supported in the DVR-108D).

good words for the pioneer by kristopher. going to wait until they do the NEC before buying myself though, since i can wait. Looks like at worst its a choice between 2 good burners though

main concern for me is good reliability with disks buring at 8x. shouldnt be such a mess trying to buy disks that burn reliably and at their rated speed.

 

[Lyfer]

will both of these be able to burn Ritek 8x dvd+r media 16x?

 

[Trader05]

I had a NEC 2500 and now i own a Pioneer DVR-108, burning at the same speeds i get better burns with the Pioneer. I'd recommend the Pioneer

 

[drwoo123]

any recommendations on media that will work with these, since compatibility seems to be an issue amongst people - looking for a spindle of 100

something cheap - reliable etc etc.

links would be useful as well

 

[SCSIfreek]

Pionner 108, just burned couple 4x media from Newegg at 12x, no errors, plays great on stand alone dvd player

 

[saber800]

I'm also debating on whether to get the NEC or Pioneer. I think I'll probably get the Pioneer DVD Burner but what's up with the OEM front face and the Retail front face?? I like the retail versions front face but it ain't worth $70 extra (CompUSA has it on sale for $159 AR). I'm getting the OEM version on newegg.

 

[Davegod]

just btw the nec comes with a beige, black or silver faceplate. shame they dont provide the other two in the box but nevermind.

 

[LED]

I have the Pioneer and am quite impressed after the last Firmware upgrade...Pioneer has more updates and the Drive also reads DVDRAM which I have on a Home Unit.

 

[IeraseU]

I recomend the NEC drive, mainly because of bitsetting. Some good sites for this type of info are:

www.cdfreaks.com
www.cdrinfo.com
www.cdrlabs.com

 

[BuckNaked]

Originally posted by: IeraseU
I recomend the NEC drive, mainly because of bitsetting. Some good sites for this type of info are:

www.cdfreaks.com
www.cdrinfo.com
www.cdrlabs.com

www.cdfreaks.com
www.cdrinfo.com
www.cdrlabs.com

 

[Lokan]

What programs are you using to burn your DVDs faster than their rated speed? Whenever I stick a DVD into my drive, Roxio auto detects the speed and won't let me select faster. Is it the program I'm using, firmware, or something else? I have the NEC-3500a and no where on NEC's site do they have firmware available for this drive. Should I RMA this back to newegg and grab the pioneer? It's kind of disheartening to hear people saying Pioneer is putting out new firmware's before NEC has even one out.

 

[iman00b]

I bought the NEC yesterday(didnt install yet) for $74 so i couldnt pass it up. The computer show i went to mostly had the pioneer and a few vendors had the NEC. From what ive read it seems pioneer is better when both drives arent flashed. But once the NEC is flashed to a newer firmware (unofficial ones i think) it performs just as well as the pioneer but faster rips or reading(dont know too much about dvd stuff yet). I think both drives will be a good purchase though.

 

[drwoo123]

media links??? where to buy good media for these drives??? i just bought the NEC as well - paid 80 b/c i figure they wont let their people down in the long run either - any links to the unofficial firmwares

 

[IeraseU]

Originally posted by: drwoo123
media links??? where to buy good media for these drives??? i just bought the NEC as well - paid 80 b/c i figure they wont let their people down in the long run either - any links to the unofficial firmwares

Here is your link for unofficial firmware for the NEC drives:

http://www.herrie.org/index.php

As for media, try the following:

http://www.supermediastore.com/

Taiyo Yuden media in +/- R media is almost universally accepted as the best around. It is somewhat pricey though. NEC drives are known to burn cheaper media exceptionally well, as opposed to for example Plextor drives which are known to not be so great with cheap media, but excellent with the top tier stuff.

 

[drwoo123]

what do you think of the ritek 8x media

link to media

anyone use them with success - seems like a reasonable price -

 

[MegaWorks]

Pioneer DVR-108

 

[IeraseU]

Originally posted by: drwoo123
what do you think of the ritek 8x media

link to media

anyone use them with success - seems like a reasonable price -

I like ritek (ridata). Some prefer thier 4x media over thier 8x. There has been some discussion of this as it has gone on sale lately. Works well on NEC drives, in my experience.

 

[Lokan]

I have some Ritek right now. They are rated 8x but Roxio only burned them at 4x. However, I haven't tryed any unofficial firmwares, which I'm about to do now.. will let you know.

 

[drwoo123]

how about reliability - do they turn out to be coasters?

 

[Lokan]

I've burned 5 freebie Newegg generic 4x media @ 4x, 2 Ritek 8x @ 4-6x, and 1 4x DVD+RW Memorex multiple times @4x. Not one coaster for issues.

I just upgraded the firmware a second ago and I'm encoding a DVD right now to burn.. will let you know how it turns out.

Off topic: How long should a normal encode take w/ DVD Shrink? It currently takes 50+ minutes to encode a single disc when backing up a normal movie using "Smooth".