Sticky labels can screwup the playback of your DVDR's

[Tommyknocker]

If it is a "crap shoot" that you may get problems using full labels and you may not, why take the chance?

[GKar]

Thanks for the tip guys/gals. I soaked 3 movies in warm water and peeled the labels off them, and low and behold, no more skipping, blockiness etc...near the end of the movies...I do believe it is the application of the label, not the labels themselves or the ink. I use a Canon i320 printer, generic paper labels, a non-stomper label applicator on TDK and Memorex 4x DVD+R's. Wish I hadn't thrown away 4 other movies! I have at least 100 DVD's that have the same labels and ink and they are ok, so 1 vote for the problem being with the application of the label.

Kudos All!

Mike

[musotechy]

Sorry for the bump on an old post!!!

The problem is down to the quality of media. I have been burning CD's for years and adding labels. It was only when I switched to a really cheap unbrabded disc that I started to have problems. What I noticed was, the strength of the stick of the label started to lift the backing off of the disc, effectively making the surface to be read warped. Cheap media has it's place but this is one of those times when spending a bit more is for the best.


Thanks

[Tommyknocker]

So you can buy expensive disks and use full-priced full-covered labels, or use discount-priced disks and inexpensive hub labels? Hmmmm....

[musotechy]

Don't really get your point.

My suggestion is, buy a disc with a decent coating (usually found on more expensive discs) if you want to use sticky labels. Use what ever labels you want.


Thanks

[Espen]

Well you have a point musotechy, but it's not sure that expensive disks works better. But normaly those cheap disks run into problem when you apply a label on them. But you can never be sure that expensive media will work either. Just bougt a pack of pretty expensive verbatim dvd+r 4x, will be back with the results of this disks.....

[divi2323]

Actually, I used to work for a company that manufactured cdrom drives.

This is caused by the paper made off center, so when the label is applied the disc becomes unstable and "wobbles" quite a bit. even the slightest off balance of the label can make the entire disc unstable and in some cases unreadable.

this used to happen alot with CDR's but companies spent more money balancing them and the labels, and the problem subsided. My solution to everyone is to buy high quality labels or like someone mentioned above, very thin low profile ones. direct to CD Printers are also a great bet.

hope this helps.

[grossjamesh]

I just purchased the MEMOREX label system. After 25 DVDs no problem.
Labels are full printed on an Epson 880 using the Memorex software.
I plan to use only the Memorex branded labels.
I based my choice on what was written in this thread.
Thanks guys.

[johns0]

i dont know if anybody has stated this but the reason some label dont affect dvd playback is because the paper doesnt go to the hub where the mechanism clamps into the hole,with the extra paper there the dvd/cd looses proper traction

[Tommyknocker]

Wow, I disagree with that one. The regular with the large center holes caused problems for me as well. However, hub labels, which cover the center of my disks do not cause such problems for me.

[divi2323]

It's like I said in my above post. The balance of the disc is what makes the difference. The discs spin at such high speeds that even a slight wobble will make the laser jump and skip tracks.

Buy high quality labels that are well balanced (indicated on the packaging usually) and you'll never have a problem again.

[Tommyknocker]

Not even on a bet. I lost a video of my wife's shopping trip playing with those full labels. I learned my lesson. I will not pay higher tuition again for a life lesson I already learned.

[bode]

I think it is easy to conclude that using full sized labels will have problems and don't assume that if it works on your standalone, it will work on someone elses player.

I would not entirely trust the comments of a professional from a dvdr/ cdr company as he's just covering his ass. I'm sure Mr Neato/ Surething professional guy will have a convincing argument also, so everyone's input into this thread has been valuable.

The inkjet printable disc isn't the golden pot at the end of the rainbow, a quick search on the forum will reveal that these too have problems, with tacky ink, smudging, non waterproofing and could you be annoyed spraying fixitive on your discs?

For anyone in the UK, the hub/ core labels are not available at present, so look abroad, but they look professional I must admit and seem to minimize any problems, but feel free to continue the argument

Thanks for the comical posts, a breath of fresh air

[RabidDog]

I lost a video of my wife's shopping trip

a glutton for punishment?

[Tommyknocker]

Nope. Just still in love after 14 years of marriage.

[debanon]

I've just started to burn dvd's and couldn't work out why they didn't play in the dvd player. I threw out many dvd burns because they were just useless to watch. I looked up your site and read about the labels causing a problem. I took the labels off the ones that I had left and what do ya know, they played perfectly. No pauses, skips or jumps. I put a label back on one and it wouldn't play again. Took it off and it played fine. I've decided I'm not going to label them anymore unless I can find a label system that works.

[turk690]

Sticking labels on DVDs might not swanky to do, but it has its worth. I have experienced a lot of what others on this post have: unlabeled, the discs play perfectly; labeled, they stutter and pixelate in various degrees, and towards the outer portion of the disc, simply freeze. This is on a JVC XV-S62 set top. However, on a newly-bought Sony DVP-NS730P, ALL of my DVD-Rs, labeled and not, worked like a charm. So think of it: for those out to buy a new DVD player, this could be a criteria worth evaluating: will it properly play a correctly recorded sticky-labeled DVD-R? This is in addition to such criteria we are already on the lookout for, such as DVD-R, +R, -RW, & +RW playability, etc. This could coax manufacturers (and be a marketing tool for them as well) into making sure their set tops correctly and consistently play DVD-Rs with sticky labels. I see the progress here in that currently these companies strive to make set tops play DVD-R, etc. properly. I see no reason why they shouldn't strive to make these play WITH sticky labels just as well.

[Work_Sucks]

I had been labeling Legacy (Longten001) DVD -R 4X discs without problem, in some cases discs that skipped before labeling were fine after!!!!

I recently purchased some TDK DVD +R 4X discs that burnt and played great but as soon as I labeled them would not play at all or would skip badly on my Sanyo DVC 2600. All disks played in my computers DVD ROMs. I was using CD stomper PRO labels. As soon as I took these labels off the DVDs played great.

Now to my findings, the weight of the Legacy media was 16 grams without a label, the weight of the TDK media was 18 grams without a label. With a fully printed label the weight of each disk was increased by 2 grams.

To me it looks like the additional weight of the label is causing problems in some stand alone DVD players. I was also going to measure the thickness of the disks but could not find my micrometer so this could be a factor also.

[antonsmit]

If the label is not in the center of the disk it makes the disk of bellince and that is the reeson for the errors on the DVDR.

[debanon]

I don't agree that they only don't play because of the label not being centre. I have 2 types of label applicators, a cd stomper and a kensington cd labeler. They both can't possibly put the labels on off centre everytime. But I still have trouble no matter which one I use. I have started using dvd+r and so far I haven't had troubles with the labels on, but I'm not convinced yet as I've only burnt a couple.

[Espen]

Well dvd+r also have problems with labels, and it depend from media to media and player to player. I use to buy lots of differnet dvd+r and test them in a old sticky player my frieand have. Bets dvd+r for labeling i have found so far is neo premium dvd+r about 6/7 worked fine in his sticky player, however all labeld dvds worked in my two players.

I guees a new good player plays almost all dvd+r labeld or not, because they aren't that sensitive.......

[siliconsoul]

I am just getting into DVD burning and would like to be able to apply labels to my discs. A couple of questions regarding the problem observed by Craig and dcent:

1. Is this problem reproducable? It sound as though it is because Craig was able to verify that the label was the cause.

2. If it is reproducable how about trying the following and see if the problem can be eliminated. Try labeling the disc prior to burning (thereby the disc is burnt with the extra weight).

If you try this please post your findings.

Regards,

Smells_Like_Feet

has anyone tried labeling before burning and then see if it plays fine? also just appling a blank label before burning...

[Byte Me]

I've was warned off of using sticky labels on DVD's by Pioneer when we bought an S201 some years ago....never really knew why! Subsequently used lots of labels on CD's without any problems.

However, I just bought a new model Canon i865 ink jet because it came with a CD/DVD tray. It is great!!! Also has an adapter for mini cd's and business card cd's. It was about one tenth the cost of a professional Primera printer and takes just over 1 minute to print direct onto any printable disk.

Also came with user friendly software for setting up your labels.

For a few hundred bucks it solves any question of label screwups and no I don't work for Canon!

[hudsonf]

I tried labeling my dvds one time and lost two dvds. Never thought of soaking them to see if I could get the labels off. I made a dvd with no problem then I applied the label, while I was labeling I decided to go ahead and label a blank. My dvd recorder would not recognize the blank dvd. I thought bad dvd but when I tried the dvd I just burnt it wouldn't recognize it either. Then I tried it in my stand alone and it wouldn't recognize it. That's the last time I labeled; I just use a Sharpie now. Funny thing is I never had a problem labeling vcd.

[Sakuya]

I don't have DVD-Rs but I do label my CD-Rs. In the past, I have made a lot of VCDs and added CD labels onto it. They had no problems and played fine. But recently, there is this one disc to which I have applied a label onto it. It started to pause here and there. Just a note, so far, there are 2 new CD-Rs that I have put labels on. One of them as mentioned above, pauses. The other one plays perfectly well. I wonder why that is?

[MadCat]

At first I did not think it was possible that the labels would mess up a DVD disc, as I could not see how it was possible. Well wouldn't you know it, I went to put a label on 2 of my Sony 4x DVD-R discs, and both of them started getting pixelated problems about half way through the disc, and refused to play around the 3/4 mark.

I removed the labels, and tried them again, and they worked perfectly, no pixelation, freezing, etc. The strange thing is, I use the same labels on my Maxell 4x media, and have never had a problem with them, it only happens on the Sony media I have.

[johns0]

I have a theory why certain labels cause dv/dvd`s to cause problems,when the dvd/cd starts to get warm then it expands slightly and the label doesnt let it have any give causing the dvd/cd to warp slightly causing the problem,maybe other labels allow the cd/dvd to breath or flex when they heat up.

[Sakuya]

The CD labels I applied onto my CD-Rs are the paper kind. It is not glossy. Is there a way to remove it without damaging the disc? Or is there another way to copy the data on the disc to a blank CD-R and hopefully that copy won't have the glitches?

[Craig Tucker]

If its on a CD-r its very difficult to remove the label without destroying the data layer on the disc. If it can be read by your PC's CD rom try doing a simple disc copy.

[Sakuya]

When I try to copy the DAT file from the CD-R to my hard drive or to use VCDEasy to convert the DAT file to MPEG file and put it on my hard drive, it freezes half way. I should try playing it on my computer I guess... What if it has some video glitches? I already deleted the source MPEGs.