OT: "CD" labels vs. "DVD" labels

[Ed_Gein]

So I finally upgraded my computer and now have a DVD burner. As I begin to make some nice labels from them, I notice the back of the box of my labels says "Warning: These labels are not designed for DVDs, use CD Stomper DVD Labels instead".

I run to Staples to look specifically for DVD labels. And on the back of a package of DVD only labels there is a message that reads something like "Specifically designed for use with DVDs."

Is this true or just marketing hype? Anyone know what the difference could be??

[rm -rf *.*]

Your office just called to ask you to pick up a pack of double sided VCD/SVCD labels...

Honestly, I have no idea - I just use a sharpie.

[whirly]

Since I have a bad habit of NOT reading the instructions or warnings on cartons, I've been happily using CD labels on DVD's for years.

[bpratt]

Before I got my Epson printer that Prints directly on DVDs or CDs, I used CD Stomper for a couple of years to print labels for DVDs. I have a few label left and just noticed the warning on the box "Not designed for DVDs". I probably put several dozen of these labels on my burned DVDs and never had a problem.

[replayrob]

Maybe some of the trayless type DVD players roll up the edges of the labels?

[BaysideBas]

Maybe some of the trayless type DVD players roll up the edges of the labels?But that would also be true of car CD players, no?

[icecow]

I used a pressure cooker for the first time last night and it had a similar stupid warning.

[rm -rf *.*]

I used a pressure cooker for the first time last night and it had a similar stupid warning.
What? "This pressure cooker is only for cooking CD's. Be sure to pick up our DVD cooker in time for your next family gathering with the in-laws."

[arcadefreaque]

just wait for the blu-ray labels... I bet they costs 3 times as much!

[Bigjohns]

LightScribe.
or the Epson printer that prints on 'printable' surface media

[rm -rf *.*]

LightScribble disks were outrageously overpriced last time I looked.

[Bigjohns]

You can find them on sale for about the same as the printable media these days.... Almost all new OEM drives have this capability. My one fear is that the lasers are not up to it...

[rm -rf *.*]

My way is still cheaper...

Thippit!

[BaysideBas]

My experience with LightScribe soured me on the technology. Not only does it take as long as half an hour to burn a label, but almost half the time it burns a coaster (graphics are so messed up as to make them unreadable).

[replayrob]

My experience with LightScribe soured me on the technology. Not only does it take as long as half an hour to burn a label, but almost half the time it burns a coaster (graphics are so messed up as to make them unreadable).
The hardware (burners) & disc's are a little better now.
I just burned 75 PowerPoint presentation Lightscribe disc's for work. Not one coaster... Lightscribe lable or data side. Approx 7 min for "normal" darkness mode labels and about 11 min for "darkest" quality labels.
PS... I only used the Verbatim brand Lightscribe CD's. I think they were on sale at $12.99 for a 30 pack from BB. Actually after the project, I was impressed enough to buy a Lightscribe drive for home. The Lightscribe lables look like 1000x better then my chicken-scratch with a sharpie :D :D

[icecow]

CD: n. Silver disc used to make chicken scratchings on with black marker.

[lucindrea]

sharpie ... why would you ever risk putting a lable on that could peel off and ruin your $40 burner just so you make your $0.05 disk look pretty. ( and if your going prof , spend the $80 and get this http://www.supermediastore.com/casio-cw-k85-cd-dvd-label-printer-cw-k85-disc-title-printer.html )

[Bigjohns]

BB had the verbatim 10paks on sale for $4.99 a month or so ago... I bought like 8 of them....

[Ed_Gein]

sharpie ... why would you ever risk putting a lable on that could peel off and ruin your $40 burner just so you make your $0.05 disk look pretty.

So that it looks just like the one from NetFlix... :D

[djdementia]

I would completely go away from the labels, they do tend to peel or bubble up and will at the very least take about 1/2 of the usable life of the CD away.

I recommend purchasing an Epson R200/R300 printer for less than $100 and using printable CD's or DVD's. They are quicker, easier, and cost roughly the same as a regular CD + Label. Also, the Epson R200/R300 series also double as a VERY good inkjet photo printer.

I have a R320 printer and use TDK "Print-On" branded CD's and DVD's.

Unfortunatley I have no idea if it's marketing hype or not. DVD's do burn the data 'deeper' inside the disc and CD's burn closer to the outside. That's why CD's are far more succeptable to errors from scratches than DVD's.

You might want to try posting your question on the best Optical Disc forum out there: http://club.cdfreaks.com/

[icecow]

djdementia,
Have you messed with these things? I haven't tried one yet.

edit(oop): http://www.paragon-matrix.com/acatalog/epson-ciss.html

[SpaceCadet]

I can't stand LightScribe. Burn time depends primarily upon area burned, measured radially, and image quality is poor (maybe newer drives are better). There are several issues with labels. Disc balance and mass can be affected, the label can peel and damage the drive, and the peeling or adhesive can damage the disc's reflective layer, which is actually more delicate than the burned side. Many Canon inkjet printers can also print on printable CD/DVD media, but for some stupid reason this feature is not supported in US-market Canon printers. The Casio printers have been available for years and have always received extremely negative reviews.

[milky way]

In case you don't know, there are glossy, watershield printable DVD/CD now. Those print prettier, closer to photo paper look.

"Taiyo Yuden 16X DVD-R Media Water Shield White Inkjet Hub Printable"
"Verbatim DVD-R 4.7GB, 16X, Glossy White Inkjet Printable"

You can get them from many on-line vender, about $.60 to $1 per disk. I got them from RIMA. Not the cheapest one, but ship fast.

[djdementia]

djdementia,
Have you messed with these things? I haven't tried one yet.

edit(oop): http://www.paragon-matrix.com/acatalog/epson-ciss.html

No, I haven't had the need for that much ink. A set of cartridges from Costco are $45 and last me about a year. Besides CD/DVD printing I print maybe 10 pages a month (usually mapquest maps) so I don't have a high enough volume to warrent something like that.

[Ed Rempalski]

I like LightScribe, never had a failure, but only use it occasionally for special discs.

I tried the Casio printer and it's fair, really need the right media else it gives flawed print.

Sticky labels look great but as others have said, peel. Also I have seen the adhesive effect the reflectivity, plain disk plays, put on sticker, coaster.

I mainly use a sharpie on the disc and then create a great looking jewel case insert. I really like the "slim" CD/DVD jewel cases, nice and compact, about 3/16" thick. I created a folded booklet template in Nero that prints a front and inside photo/text as well as cut lines. I either grab a video frame or other photo and pop it into Nero, print the cover, cut it out, fold it in half, and insert in the clear front. This process now takes me about 3-4 min to make one.

[diverjones]

sharpie ... why would you ever risk putting a lable on that could peel off and ruin your $40 burner just so you make your $0.05 disk look pretty. ( and if your going prof , spend the $80 and get this http://www.supermediastore.com/casio-cw-k85-cd-dvd-label-printer-cw-k85-disc-title-printer.html )

Purchase an Epson r230 for 79 dollars at Sam's club and just print on Printable DVDs. You can purchase those at meritline.com for like 30 dollars for 100. Cheap and affordable solution, that has not failed me yet.

[diverjones]

djdementia,
Have you messed with these things? I haven't tried one yet.

edit(oop): http://www.paragon-matrix.com/acatalog/epson-ciss.html


Ice, I have not use this particular device, but I have attempted to use refill kits before, and I hate them. Period. Messy, and in danger of ruining the cartridges, or printer. The solution I use for printing DVDs.

1) Epson R220
2) Ritek DVDs http://www.meritline.com/ritek-ridata-8x-dvd-r-white-inkjet-printable.html
3) Inksaver software http://www.inksaver.com

Inksaver is a GREAT program, works with any inkjet printer and it allows you to customize the amount of ink your printer uses at all times with a slider bar. I keep my Epson printer (used ONLY for DVD printing) set to 30 % and saves me 67 dollars each year on cost of ink. I go over 6 months without purchasing more cartridges. LOVE it, would not live without it. Instead of the mess, time involved with refill kits, My solution just makes my ink last longer and that is where I get my savings from, AND I do not have to worry that generic ink will clog my printer (which has happened once in my lifetime and I never want to repeat that mistake again).

Hope my advice helps someone,
Dennis

[oldnacl]

I've tried all the methods listed above and other than "special" disks - something I might take where more than 1 person might see it, i.e. a school, I use a Casio printer. Quick, neat, legible. What more can you want? Works perfectly with TY shiny disks. I've printed more than 1000 of them rather than spending an hour with the ink jet printer looking for the right graphics and dealing with the (sometimes) recalcitrant Epson tray just to do a few disks. Get 'er done.

[icecow]

recalcitrant


re·cal·ci·trant /rɪˈkælsɪtrənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ri-kal-si-truhnt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective 1. resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory.
2. hard to deal with, manage, or operate.
–noun 3. a recalcitrant person.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1835–45; < L recalcitrant- (s. of recalcitrāns, prp. of recalcitrāre to kick back), equiv. to re- re- + calcitr(āre) to strike with the heels, kick (deriv. of calx heel) + -ant- -ant]

—Related forms
re·cal·ci·trance, re·cal·ci·tran·cy, noun


—Synonyms 1. resistant, rebellious, opposed. See unruly.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

[oldnacl]

Yep, that's it!

[icecow]

djdementia,
Have you messed with these things? I haven't tried one yet.

edit(oop): http://www.paragon-matrix.com/acatalog/epson-ciss.html


Long overdue update:

I got the continuous ink system for about $50 a few months ago. It's great. It came with the 'refill' type dye-based ink so it's no where near photo quality, but I didn't want it to be.


diverjones and me seem to think alike on this one so I took his lead and got a epson 340 and downloaded inksaver(a program) trial.
duh, I should have got the printer/copy machine version of the printer. My bad. Now I don't have a copy machine. What was I thinking?

my trial of the inksaver program is now over and I'm hoping to find a freeware version. inksaver is exactly what I've been needing. The thing about dye-based 'refill' type inks is it tends to over-saturate cheap copymachine-quaility paper. I always adjusted for that by pushing up the brightness level in the printer settings 'real quick' which worked but is a PITA. Inksaver ends that nonsense.

The extra nice thing is because i turn down the ink so it doesn't saturate the page I save even MORE ink,

my epson 340 has 6 colors, but with the cheap ink it doesn't look any better than my old 4 color with cheap ink. In fact, I just hooked up my incidently mostly ungrateful mom with a set of continuous ink cartriages. She, and liz both have the same 4 color printer I used to have. The brand she got seems to include much better quality dye-based ink than what I got reminding me that not all refill inks are made the same. Her 4 color looks better than my 6 color.

bla bla bla

summary: I highly recommend the CIS (continuous ink system) for printers. If you can manage, figure out which are the higher quality dye based inks and pay the extra 10 bux. The program 'Inksaver' is the perfect companion, though I doubt it took long to write.


note: forgive me, not editing

[DavidEC]

Side note - If you don't want to use a CIS system {1} there are 'refillable' cartridges that work with the Epson & HP printers that work just great!

{1} the bad side of many of the CIS systems for home based printers is that the hose from the supply can get damaged/crimped which cause the loss of ink flow while printing.. or even worse.... a full cup or more of ink all over you printer stand/desk [yes that stain on my desk top was from a hose that sprung a leak]

--David

[rfryar]

The difference is in the type of adhesive used on the label. Old CD labels had a stronger adhesive on them. So if you put a CD label on a DVD and decided to remove the label you risk pull up the oxide layer that your burned data resides on.

If you want a quick fun example take a strong packaging tape and put it on the label side of a burned disc. Them pull it off and notice that it pulled off some of the reflective aluminum (or whatever) coating with it.

So long story labels while CD and DVD will work just do not try to remove them once in place.

My answer has always been a sharpie and just print an attractive case sleeve if you want something to look pretty.

Rick

[JenEric]

My answer has always been a sharpie and just print an attractive case sleeve if you want something to look pretty.
...it's good enough for Borat.