NEC AD-7170A review

NEC's AD-7170A is one of the cheapest DVDs writers we've seen so far.

Since it's an OEM model, it doesn't come with any disc burning or DVD playback software, but this isn't a huge flaw since Ahead's Nero 7 Essentials suite is available online for only a couple of quid.

The 7170A's specifications are almost identical to NEC's AD-5170A, though it also has support for DVD-RAM, something the 5170A lacks. Like most 18x DVD writers, its performance in our single-layer DVD tests couldn't match its claimed 18X - its actual performance was closer to 10X.

The drive performed poorly when writing DVD+R DL discs. Managing only 5.21X in our tests, it's one of the slowest writers we've seen. This model also lagged behind to produce a poor result in our DVD-R DL test, taking almost 20 minutes to fill a dual-layer disc. At 5.15X, it couldn't come close to its claimed 8X.

However, the 7170A redeemed itself by being impressively fast when burning rewritable DVD media. At 5.63X, it was close to matching its claimed 6X for burning DVD-RW discs. Its 3.99X when writing to DVD+RW media couldn't match its claimed 8X, but it's still one of the fastest DVD writers we've seen.

The 7170A's performance on single-layer discs is respectable, but is unimpressive when using two-layer media. However, it's a good choice if you mainly use rewritable discs to make backups. If you're not concerned with DVD write times, this model's low price tag will be very enticing, especially if you already have all the software you need.

But if you need disc-burning software, consider Lite-On's SuperAllWrite LH-20A1P. Its software bundle includes the handy Nero Recode for shrinking a 8.5GB DVD movie, so it'll fit on a 4.7GB disc. Its performance is very close to the 7170A's, so you won't be sacrificing performance either.

Author: Alan Lu