Sup fella's,
I have two NEC 3550A DVD Dual layer drives, and that's all that I got actually, they were cheap at newegg for $50 bucks a piece so I got them, I am hoping they are ok to backup my xbox360 games with because having to buy ANOTHER dvd DL burner would really suck....

It is STOCK with default firmware, straight out of box from newegg... I don't have any idea how to update firmware on a pc drive or xbox360 drive, yet...

Thanks.

nec burners suck for making 360 backups ,


get the pioneer 111d ,

would you like to buy me a pioneer burner?

I have that drive and have made perfect backups that work in samsung drives, but they won't work in my Hitachi 47d for some reason. If it comes down to it, the pioneer is only 30 bucks at newegg right now.

ok, I need to make a correction:

I have FOUR DVD Drives, 2 identical of each kind,


LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE 16X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16827106014


NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16827152058


I have not recieved my xbox360 yet, it will be here tuesday/wednesday of next week, but I am ALL About preparing, I'd like to hack my xbox360 right out of the box, lol, maybe power it on once with a dvd movie to make sure it's not DOA, then start hacking~! lol....

Which Burner is better to use? The NEC's are already in my pc's, and I have the two lite-on's in a bin in the garage.... ( out of room in the house ), lol.... Also, DO I need to update my firmware?


In My Computer > Right mouse click > Properties on the D Drive > Hardware Tab


_NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

Driver Date: 01/07/2001

Driver Version: 5.1.2535.0


IS that too old, or default firmware is not good or what's up fella's?

Thanks...

i think the liteon burner will make better backups then nec ,


just burn one backup an each burner and see which one works ,if any


update both drives to the latest firmware , prefferably hacked,


5.1 is not your firmware version , you can see the firmware version in the device id string ,

or with the binflash , for the nec drive

search is working, and there are already a lot of threads asking this same question.

Well I've burned 5 backups with the NEC with both the stock and hacked firmware. None of them work so it's going back to the shop today. Don't waste you time or money on this burner folks.

its a great burner, just not for 360 backups.

The NECs have taken a dive in quality and aren't recommended much anymore. Not saying that they are terrible burners but they certainly aren't of the caliber of some of their previous models. Anyways methinks alot of the so called compatibility issues have to do with the fact that the Pioneer 111D autosets the booktype to DVD-ROM on D/L DVD+R and the NEC 3550A requires a firmware upgrade and to do it manually. Most don't realize how crucial this simple little thing is for compatibility.

You've gotten that completely the wrong way around. The NEC 3550A sets the booktype to DVD-ROM automatically straight out of the box, whereas the pioneer (correct me if i'm wrong but I don't think i am) has to be flashed with a hacked firmware to enable the function. The NEC does not work for me and a lot of others, but the Pioneer works for everyone it seems. Well I took the NEC back anyway and couldn't get the Pioneer anywhere, purchased an LG that supports bitsetting on the off chance that it would work only to have it add to my coaster count. Good discs 0 - Bad discs 7....lol

It's going back on Monday and I've now ordered and paid for the Pioneer online. If this doesn't work..then I'll give up.

You are wrong about the Pioneer as it does set the booktype to DVD-ROM right out of the box. Didn't know that about the 3550. All previous model NEC drives required either an upgraded firmware or a booktype adjustment. You 100% sure that the 3550 does set the booktype out of the box? Incidentally what media are you using?

I'm 100% sure. Atleast my revision of firmware did. I even tried manually setting it in imgburn and also dvdinfo pro befor burning but they still don't boot. Also the discs report correctly as DVD-ROM when checking the book type of the burnt media. And I'm using Verbatims BTW.

Anyway, I've gotten rid of the drive now so it doesn't matter. I'll just wait for the Pioneer to arrive and see if that helps.

Actually, heres a couple of screenshots. This is how DVDinfopro reports the media..



And this is what the xbox thinks of it....

Fair enough. Who knows. Maybe the 3550A could've used a firmware update. Either way, you should be happy with the 111D. I just got mine and it is an excellent drive.

i have been using a nec 3540a with datawrite dl disks (cmc dye i think) and made 4 working backups, so the drives work but my last one which was dead or alive 4 booted twice then wont boot anymore , i think its a bad burn, so im gonna scan it for po errors and see, i have a feeling they will work for a while then stop as is the way with poor burns, as illusions says great writers just not for 360 backups.

Honestly it is the shite E-net media you are using more than anything else. Give some Verbatims a shot and I bet you will notice a difference.

My mate brought his pioneer 110 over today, burned 2 backups at 8X even which booted perfectly. So it was the burner after all.

I use the same nec and burns work perfectly i even burned @ 8x, just make sure to set booktype to dvd-rom.
use this to set booktype http://binflash.cdfreaks.com/download/1/5/...lash_wingui.zip

Have you tried updating the firmware on your NEC? As mentioned by the previous post it could be a booktype issue. I believe the Pioneer 110 autosets the booktype to DVD-ROM on D/L discs as have all of the late model Pioneer burners.

Read read read. Find out what others have to say, try for yourself - then let everyone know.

I think it's still too soon to tell - burn a few games, follow the tut's to a T - and if they don't load then try try again...

I'm still convinced v47's dont' get the ss.bin right.

NObody's confirmed whether they're supposed to be identical or not... I keep getting different ss.bin's for the same game.

I wasted alot of time trying to get my Hitachi XBOX drive and the NEC 3550A to agree.... nothing worked. I tried all the mentioned Liggy & Dee firmware updates as well as the bit setting instructions... I burned so many coasters using every brand of media I tried.

I read alot on these forums and from what I gather there is really no way to get this particular NEC drive to agree with the Hitach 360 drive... those who have had success with this drive are Samsung & Toshiba owners for the most part.

So anyway, I got fed up and I went out and got the Pioneer DVR-111D and flashed to the latest 1.23 firmware... now my backups play perfectly.

That is my story.

As I said in my initial post, I updated the firmware and even tried the hacked firmware...i tried them all. It's all water under the bridge now anyway as the burner is long gone and the 111 is on it wasy

Okay, I won't argue with you that buying a Pioneer 111D was a smart choice, I just wanted to make sure you weren't throwing out a good burner for something that was user error.

I just wanted to add that I have burned 8 successfully backups 2 coasters that i'm sure were my fault, all disk were burned with a NEC ND-3550A burner i recieved from new egg a few months ago. I did not have to upgrade the firmware, but did have to set the booktype settings. The 2 coasters I have were most likly do to read errors while extracting the game from my Sammy to my HDD. Also I used Memorex DVD+R DL disk and all my backups seem to work with my sammy. If you have a sammy drive I would suggest at least trying to burn with your NEC drive before you go spend the money on a new burner. Save yourself a few bucks.

Yup, although given how cheap the Pioneer 111D is going for these days, it's hard not to do the upgrade. I bought mine last week for $32 shipped, which is a great deal for the drive as is. However they also threw in a 50 pack of 16x Ink Jet Printable Verbatim DVD-R discs for free with the purchase of the drive. Yeah, I know they won't do anything as far as the 360 is concerned but they are still great discs that can be used for other applications.

Hi guys i'm just new here.

I do have a question; is this gonna work (playing backups):
xbox360 - xtreme firmware - samsung drive
burner: BenQ
media: Platinum dl+

And another question:
Is a pioneer 111D just as good as a 110D?