OEM DVD drives, a few questions

theCzar

I'm looking for a DVD burner, and I've seen a few drives on Komplett.ie that catch the eye, the price seems too good to be true (<€50 inc. VAT) they're OEM...

So what's the catch if any? I thought OEM models were those that came with PC's bought off the shelf, i'm given to understand they don't come with software, is this a problem? can I just download the drivers I need?

incidently, it's a NEC ND-3540A that i'm interested in, any comments?

Malafus

OEM drives are just the drive on its own, in a misc. cardboard box.
If you do need to get any drivers, they'll be online somewhere.

DVD burners are píss-cheap anyway. OEM sweetens the deal further.

aidan_walsh

Depending on the manufacturer in question, you may or may not be elgiable for support on an OEMM drive.

tman

you won't need drivers for the drive.
so long as you have a recent version of windows (2k/xp) and decent burning software (nero/alcohol) you'll be fine.
bought an NEC 3500 last year and she's still going strong. they're quality drives

duridian

Another thumbs up for NEC3500 series here, I've a 3520A and I love it. Best optical drive I ever used. It has never made a coaster yet and it seems to be able to read scratched older compact discs better than anything I've used. It read an old and totally wrecked A-Z of Irish Rock Album that had been left in my car glovebox for years and which looked like someone had used a circular sander on it. My Sony combi drive(and any of the others I tried it in) just hopped and skipped its way across that disc but the NEC played it as if the disc had just been bought. Definitely a fantastic quality drive for the money.
Oh and as stated by the others, an OEM drive is just the drive itself in a plain plastic wrapper - no screws, no software, no cables. None of these are very important anyway as most everyone has some screws and a spare IDE cable anyway so I would say OEM is the best value.

theCzar

duridian wrote:

Another thumbs up for NEC3500 series here, I've a 3520A and I love it. Best optical drive I ever used. It has never made a coaster yet and it seems to be able to read scratched older compact discs better than anything I've used. It read an old and totally wrecked A-Z of Irish Rock Album that had been left in my car glovebox for years and which looked like someone had used a circular sander on it. My Sony combi drive(and any of the others I tried it in) just hopped and skipped its way across that disc but the NEC played it as if the disc had just been bought. Definitely a fantastic quality drive for the money.
Oh and as stated by the others, an OEM drive is just the drive itself in a plain plastic wrapper - no screws, no software, no cables. None of these are very important anyway as most everyone has some screws and a spare IDE cable anyway so I would say OEM is the best value.

sounds great, though I'm a bit disappointed they don't come with the requisite cables and screws, as i have no spare IDE cable , so it will cost a little extra...

I've heard good things about NEC drives before, gald to hear you concur! i'll buy it directly.

Thanks everybody.

DemonOfTheFall

Don't buy NEC, theyre crap. Me and my mate have different NEC drives and theyre both inferior to any other DVD drive ive ever used (except for the Dell ones that wont burn CDs, but thats a different story).

Very very loud drive, and poor quality DAE (digital audio extraction). In my next build im just going to suck it up and pay for something better. The few euro saving isnt worth the crappiness of the drive.

tman

which drives did you have, Demon?
DAE quality is sweet on my drive. and it's almost inaudible when burning dvds at 8x.

yours is the first bad report i've heard against a 35xx series drive (presuming that's what you guys have?)

jayneemac

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

Don't buy NEC, theyre crap. Me and my mate have different NEC drives and theyre both inferior to any other DVD drive ive ever used (except for the Dell ones that wont burn CDs, but thats a different story).

Very very loud drive, and poor quality DAE (digital audio extraction). In my next build im just going to suck it up and pay for something better. The few euro saving isnt worth the crappiness of the drive.

^ Don't believe his hype ^

Practically every reveiw you can find online sings the praises of the NEC 35XX series.
I have a 3520a & it's the dogs nuts!!!

btw you won't need another ide cable, just use the one that's attached to your old drive ;-)

jor el

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

Don't buy NEC, theyre crap. Me and my mate have different NEC drives and theyre both inferior to any other DVD drive ive ever used (except for the Dell ones that wont burn CDs, but thats a different story).

Very very loud drive, and poor quality DAE (digital audio extraction). In my next build im just going to suck it up and pay for something better. The few euro saving isnt worth the crappiness of the drive.

Perhaps you have a faulty drive? I have a 3540 and 3520 aswell as a Pioneer 108 and I can't fault the NEC drives at all. The Pioneer cost more than the NECs but I can't see any difference in DAE or writing, or noise for that matter.

I'd recommend the NEC 3540 for less than €50 any day, OEM or not. An IDE cable won't cost much from Komplett anyway. Get one of the rounded style cables.

The_Conductor

I've used several NEC drives, along with drives from other manufacturers all of them OEM. The best package deal for OEM drives on Komplett at the moment in my opinion is the LG drives, they come with a full version of WinDVD, along with all the mounting screws and cabling- which for an OEM drive is unusual.

Having used several different makes of drives, I never made a coaster with my NEC, but have found the seek-time on the LG to be quicker- which is nice!

SCJ

DemonOfTheFall

According to device manager its an ND-3500 AG. My mate has the exact same one and he finds it unbearably loud too.... Maybe the more recent 35xx are better? Mine was bought from komplett in january.

DAE with EAC ripping in secure mode and highest quality error recovery never achieves 100% quality on brand new pristine CDs and never has. Even a crappy first generation HP DVD burner that my friend has achieves 100% on most discs.

Maybe we both got really unlucky though. You might as well go for the NEC, seems like our problems have been isolated incidents.

As for your comment jayneemac, not to listen to my "hype", have you ever heard of the concept of a discussion? The guy was asking for experiences and I gave one. What does it matter that my experience was negative ? Doesn't make it any less true.

duridian

Demon have you tried updating the firmware on your 3500AG? It might resolve some of the problems. Oddly enough my 3520AW was bought very shortly after yours, the first week of February from Komplett also. I reckon you should give it an update and see if it improves. Here's some linkage to 3500AG firmware
Edit: If it came from Komplett the 2.1A is the one to try, just checked the link for the 2.1a this minute and it is working so it should be worth a go.

Tony H

before you buy a drive you might want to take a look at the cd freaks forum
http://club.cdfreaks.com/
i have bought 4 dvd burners the first was a liteon 811 , did ok for 6 months then went belly up , a NEC 3500 still going strong in my mates desktop one year later , a nec 3520 still burning nicely and a nec3540 a month ago , another great drive , if you get the nec just give it good media ,verbatim , taiyo yuden and you will never burn a coaster

ElNino

I upgraded my PC a couple of months ago and I spent a lot of time researching DVD burners. Most sites recommended the NEC so I bought the 3540A and I have been very happy with it. I had a Plextor before which was junk.

theCzar

I've placed my order for the NEC-3540A, thanks everybody!

Is there anywhere in town I can buy misc computer equipment, e.g. powercables for DVD drives...

The_Conductor

theCzar wrote:

I've placed my order for the NEC-3540A, thanks everybody!

Is there anywhere in town I can buy misc computer equipment, e.g. powercables for DVD drives...

Tell me what you need.
I have crates of bits and pieces, including power cable splitters etc- you're more than welcome to whatever cables you need.

theCzar

smccarrick wrote:

Tell me what you need.
I have crates of bits and pieces, including power cable splitters etc- you're more than welcome to whatever cables you need.

thanks for the offer, i'll see what i need and pm you.