Opinions on dangers of using paper labels on DVD's, please

[JohnAx]

I haven't had much luck in googling too much on the topic, but what's everyone's opinion (or linked facts, should there be any) about the "dangers" if any of labeling DVDs with stick-on paper labels? Memorex seems to recommend using only the little center label. Any real horror stories? I personally have made a lot of DVDs with stickons and haven't had any trouble.

[redwudz]

This topic has been beat to death here at this forum. You can do a forum search for 'paper labels' or start with this one https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1069034&highlight=paper+labels#1069034

[JohnAx]

Thanks very much. Very interesting thread. Sorry my quick search didn't find it.

[lifesajrny]

Damn, Give the guy a break!

[thecoalman]

Helpful comment that it's been covered with LINK:

This topic has been beat to death here at this forum. You can do a forum search for 'paper labels' or start with this one https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1069034&highlight=paper+labels#1069034

Useless comment with no link:

Damn, Give the guy a break!

Personally I'd stay away from them, get printable DVD's if you want to print on them.

[scottoinkingsburg]

I recommend getting a Casio CW50 Thermal Heat Printer. They are under $100 and it prints directly on the disc. You can buy ribbons from Casio for $10. I was in the store one day and saw it. I bought it right there. It is great!

[JohnAx]

The Casio is hardly comparable to a photo quality inkjet.

[JohnAx]

Well, Neato begs to differ with what seems to be the concensus here and assures us that their labels pose no danger. The responded to my question, more or less "I hear you have some new labels that are DVD-safe" with, in part:

>>>When DVD media started to appear on the market, the same buzz started all over again, with "experts" stating that DVD media should not be labeled. In order to respond to these statements, NEATO commissioned additional, extensive independent testing on the effects of labeling DVD media. The results of these tests showed conclusively that there is no negative impact on the functionality of DVD media or hardware after NEATO CD/DVD labels have been applied.

You can click the link below to see some information on testing:

http://www.neato.com/neato_testers.asp?mscsid=CLTGQ7BW9TUC9PARN8BFA0MX6L3T5D12

[bugster]

Well, Neato begs to differ with what seems to be the concensus here and assures us that their labels pose no danger. The responded to my question, more or less "I hear you have some new labels that are DVD-safe" with, in part:

>>>When DVD media started to appear on the market, the same buzz started all over again, with "experts" stating that DVD media should not be labeled. In order to respond to these statements, NEATO commissioned additional, extensive independent testing on the effects of labeling DVD media. The results of these tests showed conclusively that there is no negative impact on the functionality of DVD media or hardware after NEATO CD/DVD labels have been applied.

You can click the link below to see some information on testing:

http://www.neato.com/neato_testers.asp?mscsid=CLTGQ7BW9TUC9PARN8BFA0MX6L3T5D12

Use at your own risk

Just clicked that link. Can't seem to find any review of DVD labelling, just CD's. Also, no one seems to have done more than a cursory test. Label and read back once is one thing, read back repeatedly is something different!

[JohnAx]

Quite right - the Neato reply is useless. Sorry I didn't make that clear. Someone in the other thread had contributed that Neato had told them that they 'used to have a problem but now we have good stuff'. When I asked Neato 'is that true?' they gave me the link to a cursory test on the wrong media of the wrong concern.

My personal decision is to use white printable DVD's where reliability is important. I haven't printed any (ordered an R200 because Canon chooses to disable DVD printing on North American printers) so don't know if they'll be as pleasing to look at as a nice glossy stick-on, but I suppose they'll do.

[beartums]

Don't do it.

I did about 75 labeled DVDs and was happy as could be. No problems and I wondered what people were talking about. Then some of my newer DVD's didn't work quite right. Then some of the older DVDs (that had worked before) stopped working quite right. Artifacts, freezing, skipping, etc. Very frustrating. I did some research. Got some super-light clear labels. Still had problems. Finally I stopped using labels at all. Burned 100 or so disks with no problems, no skips, no artifacts. These are the same quality disks that I had problems with when I used the labels. Got inkjet-printable and an inkjet printer. Still no problems.

I wouldn't label the DVDs.