I know some people here may very well be "in the know" with internal operations at NEC, so... do you know if there is any OFFICIAL firmware coming out for the drive anytime soon?

don't think so,
since a replacement already exists (3550A)

That's pretty crappy. Is the ND-3540A viewed as a flawed drive? It wasn't even sold for that long and the 3550A replaced it...

the nec 3540a is by no way a flawed drive i have been using mine for over 6 months without a problem using liggy and dee`s 1w8 firmware i never have used a stock firmware on any of my writers since the early days of dvd writing so just thank your lucky stars that there are firmware hackers likes of liggy and dee the dangerous brothers and all the others because the manufacturers just want to get a drive that works onto the market as quickly as possible to rip the public off thinking that the drive they have got is the latest on the market but all the time they have got the next drive ready for selling


cheers bighun1952