Lightscribe Tips

[jsmithepa]

I went to lightscribe 'cuz I dunn feel like buying a printer just to do labels, and I don't burn enough to justify. Anywhoo, 3 tips:

Burn twice to get a darker shade and better contrast, as suggested by other articles.

Use the preview screen and u want to see lots of light areas, this helps with contrast and the label won't look too dark.

Make sure u buys disc that have the 1.2 (august 06) label. Lightscribe 1.2 have better contrast than the original lightscribe.

Still not DL lightscribe blanks - dang.

Add: My Lite-on 165H6S does one burn pass in ~25 mins.

[Wile_E]

You mention to burn twice. How long does it take to burn one disc label?

[nwo]

You mention to burn twice. How long does it take to burn one disc label?

i read someplace that it takes 20 to 40 mins, are Labelflash discs the same as Lightscribe discs.

[starwarrior29]

So if you burn twice the image will be lined up in the exact same spot?

[Oscar wallace]

Wont burning all this info on the disc shorten the life of the laser, I mean how long do these burners last before needing replacement, My Pioneer 107 is about three years old cant imagine a lightscribe unit lasting that long....I could be wrong of course.

[jsmithepa]

I am no semiconductor physicist, but just by 15 years in the IT industry, I'd say b4 your laser wears out, u would have trashed that burner and moved on to blue-ray or whatever the next thing is (already) on the pipe.

Burn exact same spot, well I certainly hope so! otherwise one would be burning some sort of of jumble mosaic art. YES Bobby.

[painkiller]

Either on this board (or somewhere else), someone had posted pics of a disc that had been 'scribed' multiple times.

The results were very noticeable - as to the enhanced/improved depth of black - - (contrast).

So, yes, as long as you do not remove and re-insert the disc - rewriting the 'scribe' should do wonders improving the visibility of the text/graphics on the disc.

As to laser longevity, just like any semiconductor circuit - it will last until it fails.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

If you have a good hour of your life to spend burning two times the same monochromatic label.... go for it!.

Not my cup of tea tough.

[jsmithepa]

If you have a good hour of your life to spend burning two times the same monochromatic label.... go for it!.

Well, by all means don't sit there WATCHING it. Start a burn, and go grab s'thing to eat, watch TV etc, or leave your burning at the end of the day b4 going to bed.

And if you have a server at home like I do, u let the server do the burning while yer on your notebook surfing.

[jsmithepa]

ESo, yes, as long as you do not remove and re-insert the disc - rewriting the 'scribe' should do wonders improving the visibility of the text/graphics on the disc.

Ehhh, at least with my 1.2 burner and disc, the disc have "positioning" marks etched on the inner ring, so it knows exactly where to burn, and I have removed my disc after the first pass so I could see the difference, b4r and after. BTW, my tests and another article confirms, afer 2x burn, 3rd times doesn't make it any better.

And on top of that, I was able to burn the label BEFORE, AFTER the actual data burn, it makes not difference. Make the label at your leisure.

[scorps]

There is a download patch available from the lightscribe site which improves contrast.
Be warned that it also increases the time taken to completethe image.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

If you have a good hour of your life to spend burning two times the same monochromatic label.... go for it!.

Well, by all means don't sit there WATCHING it. Start a burn, and go grab s'thing to eat, watch TV etc, or leave your burning at the end of the day b4 going to bed.

And if you have a server at home like I do, u let the server do the burning while yer on your notebook surfing.

Nah! , I ussualy have more productive things to do with my DVD-R than to stall it for an hour burning a label. I have an R200 and I'm more than happy with my cover results.

If you leave the burning for before bedtime, you will still have to wait until the first burn finish, so you can leave the second one started. (Or there is an option to perform a 2nd burn automatically?, I don't know much about lightscribe really )

Don't think that a printer is just for labels/covers, My R200 + the CIS (Continuous Ink System)recharging system is very good, and really really cheap to refill, I print everything in full color: dvd covers, pictures, drawings for my daughters, without the bite of spending as much as a new printer in a whole set of cartridges.

[Don James]

No, don't burn twice !!!
Lightscribe has a utility that gives you a good image the first time, of course you need to run it on "best" setting. But it bumps it up to darker than best and only a bit longer, not twice as long as a single burn.

http://www.lightscribe.com/support/index.aspx?id=306

[jsmithepa]

No, don't burn twice !!!

I installed the "improved" util and my burn time did not take appreciably longer, am guessing the util doesn't work on all burners.

[Don James]

No, don't burn twice !!!

I installed the "improved" util and my burn time did not take appreciably longer, am guessing the util doesn't work on all burners.

Did it work on yours? Did you get darker images?

[jsmithepa]

[Don't think that a printer is just for labels/covers, My R200 + the CIS (Continuous Ink System)recharging system is very good, and really really cheap to refill, I print everything in full color: dvd covers, pictures, drawings for my daughters, without the bite of spending as much as a new printer in a whole set of cartridges.

Yeah... unfortunately I already have another printer that does all of that, and I dunn have the desk space for yet another piece. But if u do, go for it. Color sure is alot nicer.


Hoping this doesn't become another Printable vs Lightscribe thread. This is been discussed b4r. Lets try to stick with people who ALREADY decided to go the lightscribe route.

[mrtunes]

No, don't burn twice !!!

I installed the "improved" util and my burn time did not take appreciably longer, am guessing the util doesn't work on all burners.

Did it work on yours? Did you get darker images?

I just bought a BenQ 1655 after reading this thread and deciding that it was a good option for me. The first burn I did was very pale in colour. Then I found the utility and it didn't change the burn time by a noticable amount and it did make it a bit darker but not as dark as advertised on the lightscribe site unfortunately

[jsmithepa]

Anybody reading this, don't expect miracles. I'd say one get 16 shades of gray and that's it. Just the ONLY viable solution between a sharpie and buying a printer&ink&maintenance.

[mrtunes]

Anybody reading this, don't expect miracles. I'd say one get 16 shades of gray and that's it. Just the ONLY viable solution between a sharpie and buying a printer&ink&maintenance.

It's true, but from some experimenting that i've done so far you can get some creative results. iStockphoto.com is a lifesaver sometimes although good vectors can get expensive on there if you want a lot of them. Anyone know a good stock illustration site with vector files for cheap?

[CRVLSPE]

Hi, just going to say a couple things that I have noticed using Lightscribe.

I agree that color is good. I'd like to see a lightscribe capability some day that allows the laser to produce multicolor so we don't have to use a printer anymore but for now if I want color I'll have to stick to a printer.

However, I like lightscribe as well, it has a certain classy and professional feel to it that you can't get from a printer. I just printed a disc once using the contrast utility from Lightscribe.com. Yes it increases burn time by about 5-10 minutes but the results are ALOT better. (FIrst you need to get the latest software update then get the contrast utility).

I'll post a pic of what I've gotten with a random LiteOn Drive using HP media. Its a scanned image so at its normal resolution that u'll see if it shows as a clip (reduced size) it should be like what I printed, if you zoom in, the scanner isn't so good (times like these I wish I had a digital camera).

Burned this once using the contrast utility and some random drive, and to be honest, I thought it was better than the picture template at Lightscribe.com.

[Don James]

Hi, just going to say a couple things that I have noticed using Lightscribe.

I agree that color is good. I'd like to see a lightscribe capability some day that allows the laser to produce multicolor so we don't have to use a printer anymore but for now if I want color I'll have to stick to a printer.

However, I like lightscribe as well, it has a certain classy and professional feel to it that you can't get from a printer. I just printed a disc once using the contrast utility from Lightscribe.com. Yes it increases burn time by about 5-10 minutes but the results are ALOT better. (FIrst you need to get the latest software update then get the contrast utility).

I'll post a pic of what I've gotten with a random LiteOn Drive using HP media. Its a scanned image so at its normal resolution that u'll see if it shows as a clip (reduced size) it should be like what I printed, if you zoom in, the scanner isn't so good (times like these I wish I had a digital camera).

Burned this once using the contrast utility and some random drive, and to be honest, I thought it was better than the picture template at Lightscribe.com.

That's a really nice cover! I don't have any photos right now, but I made one for a friend which had a photo of his 4 daughters on it. It was really beautiful. I've read that HP is working on making a color lightscribe. Then we'll be in hog heaven. I've made lots of covers now with photos on them. It takes a while to write, but hey, we do other things in our lives that take 20 minutes to a half hour. Breaks, dinner, sleep. Here's one from lightscribe's gallery. I don't particularly like this one "ok, now look manic" but it shows the possibilities.

[netrate]

I don't know how to explain it exactly. I have burned maybe 40 lightscribed DVD's. I have upgrade the firmware and the INCREASE contrast software. I burned about 15 DVD the other week and it was great. Nice dark colour but this week when I went to burn another 5 DVD, they are came out very much lighter then the other ones - even though it is at the same settings. I have it on BEST and the contrast software installed. Any one else experience this? Using HP media and an LG drive. Does the lightscribe run out? I am using the same media each time...

I should also add : when I burn it twice (without removing the media of course) - I get concentric circle running from the center outwards, so I don't want to do that anymore.

[Don James]

What I would do (if you haven't) is run the increase contrast software again.

[netrate]

Tried it last night to re-run the software and burned one today - still lighter. I tried to run the firmware again, but it is already up-to-date.

[Don James]

the fact that burning it twice causes problems sounds like maybe your burn HP software is malfunctioning. I've never had this problem so try reinstalling the lightscribe main software again.

[netrate]

Main software? Which do you mean exactly? IT has been since the summer that I installed this, so I don't remember exactly what is necessary...

[Don James]

I was thinking of the software you launch to write the labels. I use Nero so if mine was malfunctioning, I'd reinstall Nero. Sometimes running error-check on your c drive can fix software glitches as well.

[netrate]

Thanks for that. I will try and do that...in fact I am going to install another labelling program as well and try that.

[netrate]

Well, Surething simple labeller made it worse. I guess I will have to take it back to the retailer.

[Bass7]

Can anybody tell me (ie. is it possible) why DVDs can't have a Lightscribe CD* contrast layer? PlayStation had big fat malhandling layers.

(When I lightscribed a back of a DVD I thought there was something wrong with the software***, remembering I got a much better result in the past**; I've found it rather pale. *CD lightscribe is a lot better in contrast.)

** I don't lightscribe that often.

*** I did try it on three different burners and two computers though. Even brought in my burner for repair. Not around the corner.