Lightscribe - CDs (Philips) look great, DVDs (HP) look crappy

[garybeck]

I have a stack of HP Lightscribe DVDs and a stack of Phillips Lightscribe CDs. When I print on the Philips CDs, they look pretty good. Contrast, darkness, all acceptable.

When I print on to the HP DVDs, it's dull, blurry, not good.

I went to Lightscribe.com and installed some kind of utiltity that is supposed to make the contrast better. But the improvement on the HP DVDs was marginal, if at all.

I thought I read somewhere that HP Lightscribe media is not good. Is that likely what's going on here? Or is there something different about DVDs that makes them more blurry and dull?

I figure the problem is either HP vs Philips, or CD vs DVD.

???

thanks
gary in vermont

[jman98]

I buy ONLY Verbatim Lightscribe discs and I find no difference at all between CD and DVD Lightscribe blanks. My burns are always the same. Maybe it's the media you are using. I did get some improvement from the new Lightscribe utilty you talk about. Be sure to burn in "Best" mode which is NOT the default, unfortunately. It does make a difference. I'm going to have to mail order all my Lightscribe discs in the future because it seems that Best Buy is dropping Lightscribe, at least where I live. (I don't REALLY live anymore where my info says, by the way. There are no Best Buys in Europe as far as I know.)

I've gotten in arguments here with a certain member over Lightscribe. He loves to post about how Lightscribe sucks, so don't be surprised if you see a follow up post that has nothing to do with your question and just generally rips Lightscribe. If you do, I'd advise ignoring it.

[olyteddy]

Here in Oly WA BestBuy had colored verbatim lightscribe (CD-R). So far the orange one looked the best. The green looked smudgy and haven't yet tried the other colors. It wasn't cheap. ~$18 for cake of 25 discs.

[garybeck]

I've gotten in arguments here with a certain member over Lightscribe. He loves to post about how Lightscribe sucks.

thanks well, whoever it is, maybe they'r just using HP disks, because they DO suck. but anyone saying that all lightscribe sucks has no idea what they're talking about. it's a million times better than paper sticker labels which get smudged and can ruin your drive. Lightscribe it kind of slow but it's great to be able to put a permanent imprint on a disk like that.

i guess i'm stuck with these HP disks. might have to off them on Ebay and get another brand because they really are sucky.

[jman98]

I have never heard of any Lightscribe discs "colors" other than the normal gold color, so olyteddy's post is a first for me. Interesting.

No, the guy who hates Lightscribe posts under the name manono and his hatred has nothing to do with HP discs. He just hates the format because "the laser will burn out faster" and so on. He almost blamed the Iraq war on Lightscribe. Just kidding, but not by much. I like Lightscribe too and I pointed out that nobody was compelling him to buy a drive or the discs if he didn't like it, but it got pretty ugly. Fortunately he has not posted in this thread. I think Canon has a competing format that can do color printing straight to special discs, but you have to buy a very expensive special printer (not burner, but printer) to do it and the media isn't very cheap. Lightscribe is a good alternative and you can do cool things with it. I've had some compliments on some of my self designed labels using Lightscribe.

I've been buying my Verbatim discs from http://www.newegg.com. They ship pretty quickly and the prices are good.

[CapeKO]

I use Verbatim from newegg $6.99 for 20, free shipping, rebate involved

[creakndale]

I've been studying the disc labeling debate for the past 6 months reading everything I could find. Up until recently, I used a Sharpie but wanted something more professional looking. I didn't want to go the paper label route due to warping, releasing, unbalanced disc, etc. which leaves thermal printers, inkjet printers, or Lightscribe.

Living in the low humidity Southwest, I have had terrible problems with clogged ink cartridges. My first bubblejet was virtually impossible to clean because the heads were part of the transport mechanism and couldn't be removed. The next inkjet printer had the printhead built into the cartridge which was removable but still required manual cleaning if I didn't use the printer for over a week. Thus, I vowed to never buy another inkjet printer as long as I live in an arid climate.

So for me, that left either a thermal printer or Lightscribe drive. Last week I finally bit the bullet and purchased a Lightscribe drive with the 20 pack Verbatim media referenced in the post above from Newegg. I installed the Extended Label Contrast Utility as I'm looking for the best quality and can sacrifice the extra labeling time. The results? Very impressive. I was worried about potential blurriness or lack of contrast that others have experienced. My experience thus far has been acceptable contrast with very crisp images and text. The shades of gray on gold look fantastic. No regrets whatsoever. Now it's time to stock up on Verbatim Lightscribe media when I see them on sale.

[vico1]

I use Verbatim from newegg $6.99 for 20, free shipping, rebate involved

Actually...I just put in an order, $3.99 for 20 after rebate...Now THAT's Cheap!...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817130009

[creakndale]

Too bad that Newegg offer is only good for one rebate per customer. But at $11.99 and free shipping for a 20 pack of Verbatim Lightscribe DVD+R's ($0.60 each) it's a good deal even without the ability to use the rebate.

[vico1]

Too bad that Newegg offer is only good for one rebate per customer.

Have any family (not at your address) or friends willing to help out!...

Edit: I just noticed...Price just went DOWN another Dollar...$2.99 after rebate!...

If it keeps going like this...They'll be paying you to get 'um!...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817130009

[ZoneRanger]

Verbatim, eh? Don't flame me, guys, but of all the lightscribe media that I've burned, HP discs seem to fade the least. Memorex LS discs, that I've labeled less than a year ago, have completed faded, to the point of non-recognition (labels have nearly disappeared)! Next, worst, TDK, then comes verbatim. Is anybody else experience this kind of fading?