Labels On DVD-R's

[THoff]

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?

You need inkjet-printable CD or DVD disks. They come in white and silver. For full-color, I use white disks because it's color-neutral. For most of my printing, I only create a title and a description of the disk contents in black ink, and for that, I much prefer the look of silver.

I buy all my blank media from a place called Shop4Tech. They have a great selection of media and media accessories, and offer free UPS ground shipping.

[Ken Berry]

Mathis -- you need special printable discs, but they are quite common and, here in Australia at least, no more expensive than non-printable ones. You can get two types: matte and gloss, though the former are more common I think. And they come in both CD and DVD formats.

[mathis]

Thanks, Ken. I'll check at Wal-mart, but I don't recall having seen any.
Don't recall seeing a printer there, either. May have to go to Lubbock to Best Buy or CompUSA.

Mathis -- you need special printable discs, but they are quite common and, here in Australia at least, no more expensive than non-printable ones. You can get two types: matte and gloss, though the former are more common I think. And they come in both CD and DVD formats.

[phaydon]

I thought I would add my experience of labelling DVDs. I made about 20 DVDs and used sticky labels on all of them and they played back with no problems on my DVD player connected to the TV. The problems started when I bought a new DVD player. Not one of the labelled DVDs would play on the new player. So I tried the disks on five DVD players belonging to various relatives and some would play the disks OK and some wouldn't. This got me thinking about a project I had been planning to transfer all my home recorded VHS tapes to DVD (200 plus tapes). My plan had been to produce the DVDs and then bin or archive the tapes somehow. Supposing I had sticky labelled all the disks in the belief the disks played OK and no longer had access to my tapes and then had to buy a new DVD player because the old one failed. Disaster to put it mildly if the disks wouldn't play in the new player. I was able to salvage the DVDs by copying them onto new disks and I no longer sticky label any DVD. Hand written titles on disks do look rubbish though.

I had considered getting a printer to print directly onto disks but then came across a brief review (three paragraphs) of a Hewlett Packard Lightscribe DVD 640i writer in Personal Computer World magazine (UK mag, June 2005 issue) which concluded that printed results were of a high standard but complex designs took about 20 minutes to burn. So this Lightscribe technology could be promising, especially if they can speed up the print time. The disks also seem a bit pricey (£4.49 for 5 disks).

Pete

[mathis]

I checked at our new Super Wal-mart this morning and there are no printers or CD/DVDs there. Most of what they had in printers are for printing photos.

[TJ2]

I have a BenQ lightscribe DVD writer. The lightscribe labels look fantastic. But they are very slow if a "full graphic" type label is created (about 30 minutes). The image is burned in a spiral, in the same way a CD or DVD is played. So quick labels can be created (5 minutes) if the label is limited to simple "text in a circle". I would say the speed issues make this unusable for higher volume professional use, but for home users or for low volume professional use (say 5 copies of a wedding DVD), the look is great. I haven't had any trouble using the computer while the label is being burned. It doesn't seem to take much in the way of resources to burn labels. The CD-R prices aren't too bad (I think about $25-$30 for a stack of 50). The DVD+R just hit the market now and are still a bit pricey ($1.50-$2 each), but not bad for lower volume use. I definitely recommend it, but you have to be aware of the speed limitations in order to decide if it works for you. If you have any questions on Lightscribe, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

Tim

[Brain Champagne]

So far I've had no problems with printed labels. I put them on the DVDs AFTER burning so if the DVD is spinning really fast (16X) there's no issue with imbalance. Playing back, of course, is 1X speed. Although a few times I have put them on before burning with no problems.

Printable DVDs are more expensive than non-printable ones. And someone gave me boxes and boxes of labels for free (hey, if you're in the NYC area and you want some, just ask me). And I don't have to buy a new, and apparently slow, printer.

I tend to doubt all the 'your media will deteriorate' claims. Most of my 200 music CDs are from 20 years ago and they're fine (one got scratched). I have VHS videotapes from 25 years ago that sat for 25 years, then play just fine.

[Black Lab]

So far I've had no problems with printed labels. I put them on the DVDs AFTER burning so if the DVD is spinning really fast (16X) there's no issue with imbalance. Playing back, of course, is 1X speed. Although a few times I have put them on before burning with no problems.
I don't think you should EVER put put a label on or print on a disc before it's burned, at least that is what Epson recommends.

Printable DVDs are more expensive than non-printable ones. And someone gave me boxes and boxes of labels for free (hey, if you're in the NYC area and you want some, just ask me). And I don't have to buy a new, and apparently slow, printer.
I don't think my Epson is slow. I think it's a R800.

I tend to doubt all the 'your media will deteriorate' claims. Most of my 200 music CDs are from 20 years ago and they're fine (one got scratched). I have VHS videotapes from 25 years ago that sat for 25 years, then play just fine.
Who would know if DVDs will deteriorate in 25 years? Wouldn't it take at least 25 years to determine that?

[extremekicks]

I get my DVD's printed for a $1.75.

This includes the bezel case - printed.

The CD or DVD - Printed as well.

You have to provide the designs of course.

And yes shrink wrapped and with a bar code to

Doesnt matter if you order 1 or 1,000,000

Cant beat that huh?

[Ken Berry]

Well actually you can, if you do it yourself. That is the point of this thread. I personally would blanch at the thought of paying $1.75 -- let alone $1.75 US dollars -- to get a disc and case printed, and have to provide the design as well. Doing a disc case label is easy peasy since so many templates exist and you just have to slip in your own design -- easy again with Photoshop, PSP, PhotoImpact etc. And ditto for the disc labels for printable discs.

The latter may be more expensive than non-printable discs, but frankly I no longer know. What I do know is that I pay around 25 cents Australian per blank printable DVD, and that is fine by me. Others may pay even less. And the time and effort to print a label to that and to the jewel case, if I want one, certainly would not come anywhere close to $1.75 -- and also gives me the creative sense of doing it myself.

I have an "old" Canon i865 printer which does a marvellous job, and it takes about 30 seconds to print a label on a printable disc. Well, if that is slow, then that is also something I am prepare to live with...

[Black Lab]

I think extremekicks is doing 100s or 1000s at a time, so outsourcing makes sense. Or at least get one of those sweet multi-disc burners/printers!

[extremekicks]

Yeah Jeff I get big orders. I ocassionaly do one here and there with light scribe.

But my numbers go from 50 to 1000. I want to get that 10,000 order one day

Plus if you do a project you can make additional income by doing the design for the cover and dvd if you know a good photo / design proggie.

But if you have the paitence and skills to save a buck i say go for it.

[Roberto]

Let me add my experience with HP printer, which is able to print on the DVD.

1. DVD cost: he "white" DVD are quite cheap, about 2 RMB (1 USD = 6.8 RMB) or even less if your haggling skill is good enough

2. printer cost: 1 year ago it was about 120 USD, but prices always drop...

3. SW to prepare the DVD label: my HP comes with a simplified version of the Roxio SW, which is... really simplified... basically a piece of junk, as it looks like it can't either reload a previously saved label (at least, that's what happen on my PC after installing the SW)

4. final result: quite nice, except from the fact that some ink goes in the inner part of the disk, i.e. the transparent holed part. I always have to clean it... which, obviously, is not so good in case the number of produced DVD is high (but this is not my case...)

5. ink consumption: I haven't really cunted, by I think that with about 50 DVD one color cartridge is gone...

6. time to print: just a couple of minutes

Conclusion: I think it is a nice solution but you need to consider the ink cartridge cost and probably getting a good SW to create the labels (in case your labels looks complicated)

[Nunk]

LightScribe DVD labeling is the safest way to go. You will never get any problems with labels coming unstuck or the ink printing unbalancing the DVD in the player. Yes its monochrome but you can get many different colors, still monochrome but looks so cool too.

I run a video editing business in the Philippines for 3 years and at this time would use nothing else as they are so reliable and my customers never complains of jumping disks or DVDs not playing.

I know if you need volume DVDs this is not the best system but if you have 4 or 5 pcs like me i can lightscribe 5 DVDs every 16 mins full quality and all disk printed on.

Nunk

[sjj1805]

There have been reports though of the light scribe fading possibly due to poor storage. I use a good old fashioned Indelible Marker Pen.
I guess it all comes down to:
Is the disk for your own use, friends and family? - Marker Pen
Is it something you intend to sell? - something more elaborate than a pen!