The Firmware Page

Hi,
I had an original NEC ND-1000A, which was updated with etna's ND-1100A/ND-1300 firmware several times until eventually getting to 1.0C.

However I've been having problems burning, especially DVD+RW. For example both some Sony DVD+RWs & some Ritek 4x both show lots of write errors when I try reading with Neros' CD-DVD speed.

DVD+Rs don't seem to show this problem, but my trust in this drive has taken a nosedive.

Are there other firmware variations I should try? Or perhaps it's time to bite the bullet and spend a fortune (not!) on a new one.

As fas as new drives go - thinking of a ND-4770 or 4771 (labelflash) .. better than LG/Liteon? Although the LG 4416 has an alternate label burning scheme.. personally doubt I'll use it..

try better media, also the lg 4164 is a lightscribe model, the nec drives are very good, depends on what you want

Sony and especially Ritek +RWs are not recommended.
Also try to use 2.4x rated +RWs, if ever.

Interesting. Is that a general recommendation, for NECs, or just this drive?
Is there any other firmware than 1.0C worth trying (etna's page has a lot of old ones!)

The ritek disk is a 2.4x "RITEK 004"
The sony disk is ah.. funny.. a 2.4x RICOHJPN W11 ... a quick google search suggests these are good?

I'm sure I've found a good site which catalogs all of these media before, but I can't locate

Actually I may well splash out on a new drive anyway... and get some more media at the same time. Currently considering the NEC ND-4570 (or possibly a liteon SHM-165H6S, or the cheap philips from SVP). Might try some DVD-RAM disks for PC backups too.

are you from the uk? you'll not get the 6 series liteon lightscribe here, it will be the 5 series only. ritek dvdrw are not to good, the sony one's should be ok, but with a newer drive

With Ritek media, RW is a very risky path...

The Sonys come with RICOH DYE. The bad thing is, there are good ones of them out, and bad ones. You probably only could decide which is which by checking the media barcode at the inner ring...
With an actual dvd burner you also can use 8x +RW and 6x -RW media - worth an update if you use the right media, I think.