Got tired of the drive, it doesn't burn as well as my BenQ when comparing the two. What brought me to the conclusion? An 8x DVD+R Sampler pack. Even on TY 8x DVD+R media the BenQ walks all over my NEC ND3500AG in write quality. The other deciding factor is the fact that my Samsung CD-RW/DVD combo is a *much* better reader (almost on par with the BenQ in that terms) then the NEC and I didn't trust reading in the NEC at all. I didn't save the common media scans but here are a couple of the other scans I did. I know some of them aren't full discs - my apologies for that.

First scan is an Optodisc OR8 8x DVD+R burned at 8x.

Second scan is a Prodisc R03 8x DVD+R burned at 8x.

Wow - I've heard of preferences, but SHELVING the NEC, that's quite a statement.

Congrats on the BenQ - I'm getting really friendly with mine too.

Another good-bye story to a NEC. Gosh, I'm just feeling the little warm fuzzies for those poor unwanted NEC drives - LOL.

"poor"... "unvanted". ?

I don't think you know what you are talking about. Sure, on some media BenQ 1620 gives better results then my two NEC´s 3500. Then, on some media, the other way around...
But to use words like -poor- and -unvanted- is tud to much for my taste.

Wow.... If your in the US and you want to sale it for a good price pm me. I may be interested.

one more here.

I think we need a poll.....

How many are sitting on the shelf after installing the Benq DW1620?

I enjoy this thread because I was on the fence for so long for which burner to get and finally narrowed my quest down the the NEC and the BenQ. I burn -R for 99.9% of my use case, so everybody said go NEC... but I saw the potential and the progress with the BenQ wrt to -R (not to mention the scanning, stock-firmware overspeeding abilities, and scratched-disc reading abilities) and chose the BenQ. I have ZERO question about the correctness of my decision...especially when I scan my discs (which I couldn't do on the NEC) and they seem to come out AMAZINGLY good like clockwork. GO BenQ!
PS- I'm not bashing the NEC, I do think it's a good drive, but the BenQ is better and I'd love the BenQ group to get into a quality showdown ANY DAY with the NEC forum!

I really would like to see a showdown between BenQ vs NEC...former NEC 2500A owner.

BenQ vs NEC and then we need a switzerland for common scanning ground - Lite-On or Plextor drives would work fine for that, lol.

Keeping my NEC - I needed a good spare drive anyway so it's shelved for the time being. If my BenQ would ever up and die the NEC can go in for 2-3 days while I wait on a replacement.

This really is just personal preference...BENQ vs NEC vs PIO...etc.

Everyone of those drives if you do your research have its Pros & Cons. Everyone has perferable media codes that they will shine. Some like the BENQ1620 does bit-setting out of the box. I can go on and on with a list.

The point is to each his/her own. Do your research and find something that works for your situation. If you have 100's of DVD-R's laying around that you want to burn, well the BENQ1620 may not be the drive for your situation since the majority of BENQ1620 users have greater success with DVD+R media.

well i can't say i shelved my nec 3500,, i just rma'd it back to newegg. now i have 2 1620's and a 1633 (digital max cross flash) for scanning. i only burn +r's, i only bitset, only use ty, ricoh, mcc... this drives just tears up the good +r media. i couldn't be more happy with my benq's

I found even on DVD-R media, at least the ones I used (Dupsonic with VANGUARD as the media code that are 4x and Optodisc 4x DVD-R's with OptoDiscR004..) that my BenQ would do a much better job of burning on them then the NEC ND3500AG would. RitekG04's were about the same as the NEC with both drives being exceptional on those.

Lately I've been converting myself to DVD+R media since the BenQ seems to prefer it so I've got about 150 RicohJPNR01's sitting here that are 4x DVD+R - and I'd assume the BenQ can overspeed these to 8x and I have 100 Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD+R's on the way from Meritline yet that I know the BenQ rocks on and can overburn to 16x even though I'll probably stick with the 8x speed when burning them.

It's all preference really. If the NEC would've been as good of a reader as the BenQ or my Samsung I would've kept it in the computer for the second drive. But since I want a good reader (I use AnyDVD/ CloneDVD combo more than anything else...) I put my Samsung combo drive back in since that is on par with its reading ability with my BenQ.

I do know what I'm talking about. NEC drives are "poor" and "unwanted" by my choice. Saying so is not too much for my taste. Go BenQ - Bye-Bye to NEC!

Yes, let's do it. Let's bury the idea that NEC drives are as good as BenQ drives for good. I'm tired of hearing NEC this and NEC that. BENQ baby!