Pacific Digital NEC or LiteOn? (questions)

[james_stewart]

I purchased a Pacific Digital 8x mach 8 dvd writer at Staples for $99 yesterday. After installing it and checking the properties it reads as an NEC ND 2500a DVD RW drive. After reading the comments in www.dvdrhelp.com people are saying Pacific Digital uses Liteon drives and they require a firmware update. I'm sort of confused is my drive an NEC drive or a Liteon drive or something else? And if it is one of these drives does it require the firmware update? What exactly is a firmware update for? When I used Nero it only gave me the option of burning at the most x4, why? Thank you for you answers

[KTL]

Pacific Digital, like other companies, Khypermedia, IOMagic, etc., use OEM suppliers such as LiteOn or NEC to package their drives to sell. The ND2500A is a very good burner that has 8/4/8/4 burning capabilities. Typically, firmware includes information about media burning & handling strategies to result in readable discs. Here is a link to the NEC firmware information, and here and here are reviews of the NEC drive.

[james_stewart]

Thank you very much for your prompt response it has been very helpful