For those who missed the Pikaone....

TheChillPill

With the NEC drive, you'll probably find most discs will work fine. Generally, look for anything using the Ritek dye (G04 or G05 if I remember correctly). In terms of suppliers, my preferred choice these days is ukdvdr.co.uk, but svp.co.uk are popular too.

You can use the existing ribbon just fine.

In terms of software, really depends what you want to do. If backing up movies is your main thing, then you'll want to look at DVD Decrypter & DVD Shrink (if you wanted to backup onto a single layer disc - much cheaper discs and not much loss of quality). Other than that, Nero is fine - and of course Windows XP itself will let you burn files to disc.

Sign up for the newsletters at ukdvdr & svp - they both have offers on at some point each week for cheaper discs or free p&p etc.

Rick's_Bugs_&_Buses

TheChillPill wrote:

In terms of software, really depends what you want to do. If backing up movies is your main thing, then you'll want to look at DVD Decrypter & DVD Shrink (if you wanted to backup onto a single layer disc - much cheaper discs and not much loss of quality). Other than that, Nero is fine - and of course Windows XP itself will let you burn files to disc..

Cheers for the info, i'm a novice at this sort of thing!

Do I need both or would either di the same thing? Where do I get the software from please? Do I find it online as freeware, or do I purchase it? If so is it expensive?

Rick

TheChillPill

DVD Decrypter will remove any protection and either burn to a blank disc, or create an image for you. If the original disc is dual layer, but you want to stick it on a single layer disc, then you need DVD shrink to compress it and remove anything you don't need (subtitles etc). They are both freeware - a google search should bring both pages up for you.

I would install both and have a play around with them both, after a couple of discs, you'll figure it out really easily - they both have good User Interfaces.

charlie12

Rick's Bugs & Buses -

SVP have discounts on shipping until midnight tonight, check their prices against Ebuyer's. You could also get your discs from them as they have much more choice than Ebuyer.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=49728

Cortes

Hey folks

Dunno if any of you went for the Ultima from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00098Q4P8/qid=1115808227/sr=8-2/ref=pd_ka_1/026-3642050-7547654 apart from TheChillPill but I got mine Monday and......it's an Artec with Sonic instead of Nero and No audio cable!

I know Ultima & Artec are the same company however I'm very unimpressed with Sonic over Nero and the unit looks completely different. Anyways sent it back with my grumbles asking for the CORRECT one as advertised and...they sent back the same one!!!!!

To cut a long story short, the fella I spoke to in customer service (yep you read it right...spoke to) thinks it's a webpage error and that they don't have any of the ones on the website in stock, just the Artec version...Pftt!

Not happy and thought I should let you good folk know my pain, just in case you were in the market for one.

Anybody got any new retail version bargains???? Might just go for the NEC OEM anyways.

Adios

Jollux

I got the NEC 3520A last week. Installed it fine, no need for drivers. However i had bought DATAWRITE 4x DVDs!!! Dun da da!! I cant express how much i would stay away from these disks, not only from my own experience, but from reading countless comments on the net that they're rubbish. In four burns (at 2x, it wont let me burn at 4x!) ive had four coasters adn am not impressed. Bought 10 'trial' Ritek 4x discs just to see the result from these, and in 2 burns ive had 2 very successful burns, but still havin to burn at 2x. Now im gonna go find out about flashing my drive...

What does everyone else use with their NEC 3520A??

kalico

While we're on the subject of DVD writers, can anyone recommend a good (and good value) external DVD writer? I presume they plug into the USB port?

Alternatively, a source for getting Dell spares cheaper than the ridiculous prices Dell charge. We bought a couple of Inspiron notebooks with DVD players built in but now need to write to DVD occasionally.

Thanks for any advice.

valentino_2

Hi

I thought this looked quite reasonable...

http://www.ukzan.com/ZRW.htm

Steev

dellboy102

After reading lots of reviews I actually went for the tried and trusted NEC 3500A over the 3520, it was only very slightly cheaper but I felt I would be getting a reliable product!.

blinky

Check out the NEC forum at www.cdfreaks.com for modified firmwares. Traditionally, results with the NEC's and RItek discs haven't been great. Best results with Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden (most expensive), but good results on other dyes too. NEC's tend to have the best write quality hence their popularity.

Currently I'm using Tesco's DVD+R 8x which use the CMC E01 dye, with excellent results on my NEC 2500. Not sure if Tesco's still have the BOGOF offers on their DVD media or not.