NEC ND1100A DVD drive compatibility problems

[Mangopango]

I have a NEC DVD+RW ND-1100A drive in my new Dell computer. This drive is supposed to write DVD-R (2x), DVD-RW (1x), DVD+R (4x), and DVD+RW (2.4x). I have been unable to achieve this compatiblility with my unit.

The experiment

I burned the same 55 min mpeg file to various media using both Sonic MyDVD and Video Wave Movie Creator in each case. Then I tried playing each DVD in the NEC drive use for burning, in a Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616T drive, and in a Sony DVP-NS315 player. I varied the media write speed and brand, also.

The results

DVD-R
Maxell "Version 2.0"
The NEC drive did not recognize this medium, giving "There is no media inside the recording device" and "Please insert a recordable disc now" messages, depending on the burning software being used. Three disks gave the same results.

DVD-RW
I did not try this format.


DVD+R
Verbatim 4x

Burning with Sonic MyDVD gave a disk that could not be read in the NEC drive that burned it -- the drive light stayed on continuously and 'My Computer' crashed. In the Samsung drive, the disk could be played with PowerDVD, but froze about 20 minutes into the program. The Sony player froze at about 21 minutes.

Burning with Video Wave Movie Creator gave a disk that could be read by 'My Computer' when in either DVD drive. When playing the disk in either drive, PowerDVD freezes about 50 minutes into the video. However, the entire program could be played on the Sony player.

Memorex 2.5x

Burning with both Video Wave Movie Creator and Sonic MyDVD gave the same results. The disks were playable with PowerDVD in both DVD drives (however, with the NEC drive, skipping forward by clicking on the time line gave slow responses). The disks performed flawlessly in the Sony player.

DVD+RW
Verbatim 2.4x

The disks performed perfectly on all three platforms!

Here are my questions!

Why doesn't the NEC drive write correctly in ALL the above cases?
I did find a thread here that says NEC has TWO different ND1100A drives & onw of them doesn't hadle DVD-R -- is this true?

Is the difference in results with the two different types of DVD+R disks likely to be due to brand differences, or is my drive just not able to write at 4x as it should?
Why would the NEC drive not recognize the DVD-R media?

Should I contact Dell Tech Support and get a replacement NEC drive? It was promoted, I believe, as being +R and -R compatible, but my unit ? Or would it be better to get a Sony or other brand drive that writes to both the -R and +R formats? I have lots of burning to do and can't afford to use DVD+RW media al the time!

[karris56]

I have a dell nec dvd +rw nd- 1100a also and found it only plays dv+r and dv+rw.If I put a dv-r in my drive it says no media. So that should answer your first two questions.Nec has 2 different drives and yours does not recognize dvd-r or dvd-rw.As for your third question if you have to write in dvd- then go for the sony drive or similar that can write both.

[ChrissyBoy]

I have a DELL too. karris56 is right. DELL renamed the retail drive that was cabable or writting +-R/RW media(1300 i think). The 1100a is now just for OEM version - which will only write to +R/RW.