Labels On DVD-R's

[Ray Musicbear]

What is the consensus of opinion on putting the sticky DVD
lables on my finished DVD Movies?

Does it cause them to misfunction in some DVD players?

[THoff]

I strongly recommend staying away from stick-on labels.

DVDs are far more sensitive to vibration than CDs due to the fact that the data density is so much higher. The pits and lands and track widths are much smaller, and the vibration caused by a label that was applied off-center or has slowly migrated off-center can cause the pickup laser assembly to lose tracking. At best, this will cause stalls or stutter during playback; at worst, the entire disk will become unreadable, and usually pulling the label off will leave behind some sticky residue which will still cause vibration/tracking problems.

[Ken Berry]

To borrow the words of praebo the spammer, I agree with your comment, THoff -- and strongly so. Back in my early DVD days, lo these many (well 2) years ago, in my ignorance I tried putting a paper label on a DVD, just as I had successfully done with my CDs. But I did it only once. The DVD just would not play on anything until I bought a cheap DVD player, on which it would at least start to play. I then bought a printer which could print labels direct to disc, plus a supply of printable DVDs and CDs, and they look much better anyway.

To coin a phrase: stay away from paper labels for DVDs or you will come to a sticky end!

[welchb]

another 2 cents (or pence, in my case) worth -->

There are many printers and DVD media now than allow direct printing to the surface of disc's.

Also recently I've read of "Light Scribe" features on both media and DVD burners where the DVD laser can etch a picture/label the disc.

I've not seen or heard anything in terms of how good this is and you must have a DVD burner that offers the facility but sounded interesting.

Cheers,

Brian

[BrianCee]

It is not just the vibration factor either - like most people I started to stick labels on my DVDs but one must have got a bit damp or something because the label lifted pulling the silver backing off the disc with it, no way it would play after that.

[DVDDoug]

Yes, the consensus is that labels are bad.

For general home-labeling of DVDs & CDs, direct inkjet printing seems like the best compromise. My next printer will have this capability.

However, I've had excellent results with labels.

I've been using Neato (and Neato compatible) labels on CDs for several years, and hundreds of CDs. The only "problem" I've had is that some of the glossy labeled CDs are too slick, and sometimes don't eject all the way from one of my car's CD players. (It still comes out an inch, so you can grab it.)

About six months ago I started burning DVDs. I've burned and labeled over one hundred DVDs. The only problem I've found is that the labels don't adhere well to inkjet-printable DVDs.

Note that my CDs are mostly audio, and all of my DVDs are video. This means that they are being played-back at 1x speed. Balance & vibration problems might show-up at higher speeds.

the label lifted pulling the silver backing off the disc with it, no way it would play after that.

That must have been a CD. Or, maybe the damage caused a balance/vibration problem. A DVD's data-layer is in the middle. You can't damage the data layer from the top. I've actually tried experiments with sandpaper!

The data-layer for a CD is on top, and you can scratch it from the top. I have damaged a CD-R by trying to re-position a label. A label on a CD can actually protect it! I've had a couple of unlabeled CDs "deterioate".... probably due to scratches. But, I've never had one deteriorate due to chemicals in the label adhesive.

I've seen pictures of LightScribe. It looks cool and professional. It's permanant, and it doesn't require any ink! However, it is monochrome, and all of your DVDs will look somewhat alike.

There are also thermal printers. They are for medium-volume professional use. They are supposed to be fast, and the ink is more durable than inkjet "ink". I believe they are all monochrome.

FYI- Most commercial DVDs & CDs are silkscreened, typically with epoxy ink.

[THoff]

The silver layer doesn't actually hold any data, it is merely there to reflect light back to the pickup lens. The data is encoded into a middle dye layer that is sandwiched between polycarbonate layers. In theory, you could repair a CD whose only problem is damage to the reflective (usually aluminum) top.

[Black Lab]

I'll have to second DVDDoug. I've made a lot of highlight videos of my sons basketball, baseball and soccer teams that I've given to his teammates over the years. All have had sticky labels and I've not had one tell me it wouldn't play in their player. Maybe when my current printer craps out I'll buy one that prints directly on the DVD because it sure sounds more convenient. But for now the labels work just fine.

[Rich2Putt]

Same here........I've had no issues using ink jet labels on DVD's & CD's. I've been using this process for over a year with not one single issue.

[DVDDoug]

What software are you-all using for printable DVDs?

Using the Neato software, with one click you can align an image to the die-cut label and re-size it to fit. Is it this easy with printable DVDs?

[Ken Berry]

The Canon printers come with excellent software, as I imagine the others do as well. With the Canon printer I use (i865) there is an insert that goes into the mouth of the printer where the printed paper comes out. You put your printable CD into a slide which fits into this insert; select your background; add text, colour, shadows, shape etc; and press print. The the slide is drawn into the printer whose print head is aligned exactly on the disc. And voilà!! It is truly excellent. The printer also calculates whether there is enough ink left in the 5 cartridges to do the immediate job and spits it out, with a warning, if there isn't enough. That way you don't get any half-printed labels and thus wasted discs.

[THoff]

The Epson R200 (MSRP US$99.00) I have comes with a DVD/CD printing tray, and also includes a program called "Epson Print CD" that lets you set background images, fills, add text, set the inner and out diameter of the CDs/DVDs you are printing etc.

While the user interface is a bit different from Neato's MediaFace, the capabilities are essentially the same, except Print CD will only print CDs and DVDs, but no labels.

[mathis]

Do the printers that print on CD/DVD require a "special" type of CD/DVD, or can you use any CD/DVD that you purchase off the shelves at your local place you get them at?

[kebrinton]

One of the above posts mentions "in all my 2 years of making DVDs," and I think this sums up the situation well. We've only been doing this a little while. People worry about the media (disks) deteriorating over 5, or 10, years... and then where will we be??? End of civilization!

I've only heard of DVD damage due to the adhesive possibly penetrating the disk, which is thinner than the CD disk and because of data density may be affected by a much smaller outside influence.

A few weeks ago another forum member summed up my feelings about labeling DVDs: We OUGHT to be able to do it because the labels look SO DAMN GREAT ! (Check out the SoniX labeling software.)

[David Latta]

I have been using the Neato Labelling System with no problems with regard to playback. Just recently I have gone over to using pre-labelled discs for use with my Epson Stylus Photo R310.

This does a great job with no problems playing the discs. Of course it's early days, but I much prefer the pre-labelled option over the Neato stick em on way.

David