What up with all of the excitement over LightScribe ???

[dodecahedron]

is it just me, or is there a lot of discssion about LighScribe of late?

i don't understand why really.

seems to me that for the tech-hobbiest crowd (that is the most of the people who read and write on such forums as CDRLabs, cdreaks etc.) it's all about the newest drive and newest specs/features. and since write speeds have topped out at 16x, what's a manufacturer going to do to get a new model on the market if the can't have one that writes faster? add useless features to existing models.
so for your average optical-storage-techie, who already has the best drive around (say Plextor 716 or BenQ 1640), there's a new drive with LightScribe! the excitement! Oh Yeah! right, my 1640 is a useless piece of rock now that there's the 1655. forget it that it's the same drive except for the useless LightScribe feature.

but reading the forums now it seems like no-one can live without LightScribe. gosh! i mean, no one even looks at a DVD once it's burned.
do you burn a DVD so that you can put it in a drive and see something/retrieve data, or so that you could put it on a table on admire how beautiful it is ? but no! it's the cool factor! i want to be the coolest kid in the 10th-grade, showing off at school discs with pictures on them!!! wow! what do you know, HP invented a babe magnet, maybe i can score!

not to mention that our optical-storage-techie uses either the best media (best burn quality) or the cheapest media that can be found to work reasoably well on his drive+hacked firmware. and LightScribe media is neither.

you know what would get me excited?

1. a drive that burns really well.
what i mean is a drive that will burn great quality burns on just about any media you want to use, like maybe 90% of the kinds of brands available.
kind of like what we were getting to with CD burners at their peak, before everyone lost interest in CD burners and got interested in DVD burners.

right now there's no such thing. every drive out there, works OK on some but not OK on others. you have to start picking, and checking, and running quality scans and what not.
damn, the 1640 (considered by many to be a great drive, the best maybe), with WOPC on / WOPC off / SolidBurn / QSuite, shit you need a Ph.D. to use this drive.

what i'd like is to have a drive that i can put into it just about any media i buy and have it burn it excellent quality without me worrying about it.
you know what, i'll make a concession here. i'll settle for a drive that i can put into it just about any good quality media i buy (say TY, Verbatim, Maxell) and have it burn it excellent quality without me worrying about it.
right now, no drive can.

2. 16x DVD-RAM capable drive.

3. a DVD drive that can burn CDs at 52x CAV (OK i'll settle for 48x) and CDRWs at 32x PCAC. and excellent burn quality too. and C1/C2 quality scanning capability too.
maybe then i'll retire my Light-On CDRW drive.

4. 16x DVD+RW and DVD-RW and DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL.

i'm still trying to figure out what will happen when the LightScribe buzz dies down. what other frivolity will they come up with next?
but i guess i can take it easy. by then what every opto-techie will drool about is BD-R! yeah, my new drive is 2x BD-R capable! never mind that no-one else in a 30 mile radius has a drive that can read the damn disc.

[dodecahedron]

so, what say you?
should i have posted this in the Beer Garden? or maybe in Rants 'n Raves ?

[Ian]

I don't think its LightScribe that so many people are excited about.. just that its a new drive design. Personally, I'm buying the DW1655 because I really liked my DW1640.. not for its LightScribe capabilities.

[dolphinius_rex]

Personally, I could care less about Lightscribe.... but DVD Burner manufacturers have decided that if they DON'T include Lightscribe, they may lose sales to companies that have competitive prices and *do* offer lightscribe, even if the person who buys the drive NEVER uses it.

[DeltaLima]

I was a fan of the Yamaha DiscT@2 because I liked the fact I was able to write the title (or the s/n ) right on the disk with quality, I don't really like my handwriting.

Now LS is more practical since it does it on the top so you always have full disk space and it does it better. Also, I don't want to invest in an ink printer and the nightmare that comes with and color laser labeling is more expensive and tricky since you have to stick perfectly a sticker on the disk.

I REALLY like LightScribe. Look at some shot of what can be done.

I'm working on a video event that was filmed on VHS a few years ago and I'm converting it to DVD and I will burn about 20 copies for everyone who will be there.

So my only grip yet is it will take me about 10 hours just for LSing all disc!!! But I'm sure everyone will be amazed by the quality of their new souvenir.

[hoxlund]

i just want to close fist pummel customers that come in and rant about lightscribe

they will buy an entire computer based off it having a lightscribe drive

then i continue to sell them a shitty hp/compaq computer that has the lightscribe drive

[TCAS]

I don't think its LightScribe that so many people are excited about.. just that its a new drive design. Personally, I'm buying the DW1655 because I really liked my DW1640.. not for its LightScribe capabilities.

I agree and that would be sole purpose for me to buy this drive also as for LS I prefer Labelfalsh from NEC 4551A since is much faster compaire to LS which takes 20-30 minutes per disc.for labeling.

[TCAS]

i


then i continue to sell them a shitty hp/compaq computer that has the lightscribe drive

Now I know why my HP/Compaq stock keep going down every day. No more sale retailership for Best Buy from now on.

[Ian]

I agree and that would be sole purpose for me to buy this drive also as for LS I prefer Labelfalsh from NEC 4551A since is much faster compaire to LS which takes 20-30 minutes per disc.for labeling.

Labelflash's initial claims were a little misleading. If you want to do a high quality print, its not any faster and Lightscribe.

LS should be much faster when the 2x (or is it 1.8x?) discs finally ship.. whenever the hell that is.

[hoxlund]

i


then i continue to sell them a shitty hp/compaq computer that has the lightscribe drive

Now I know why my HP/Compaq stock keep going down every day. No more sale retailership for Best Buy from now on.

its hard to sell em when we carry gateway and sony's

which from a performance level is quite a bit better then my emachine, hp, compaqs

[TCAS]

hoxlund ; you are right myself I have purchase two 2 "Laptop" from Best Buy during past 8 months one "Toshiba" one "Gateway.


BTW; I am thinking since my one year warranty for both Toshiba and Gateway soon (3-5 months) expires may be I should buy extended warranty for both because even though I have built my own Desk Top for the last 10 yeas I know nothing about "Laptop" and as a matter of fact these are my first experience with "Laptop. So are you recommending extended warranty? if yes from whom from Manufacturers?, or from Best Buy> Thanks

[ItalianJob]

16X RW LOL ! First they have to make DVD+RW 4X or 8X that do not gives a hugh amount of PIF after only 3-5 burns.
And RW that can be written on 2 different burners without problems...

[hoxlund]

always get the extra warranty through BBY at least

[TCAS]

always get the extra warranty through BBY at least

What you by mean atleast ?, is Best Buy extended warrent more relaiable or Manaufacrer extended warrent perfer over Best Buy?.

[stix]

Until there is something like "LightScribe" or "LabelFish" that is several orders of magnitude faster, I will stick with using a Sharpie CD Marker: fast, simple, & inexpensive. I don't burn 'em to stare at the disk, although I'd appreciate a non-handwritten labeling solution. So, I'm with you on this one, dodec.

whaddya think

I think you won't be using Labelfish

above quote is from this topic:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=20638&highlight=labelfish

[hoxlund]

its called epson r220 or epson r340 printer, get one

[MediumRare]

@dodecahedron: Thanks for bringing this up!

LightScribe is slow, expensive, monochrome and as superfluous as a goitre (to translate a German idiom which means you need it like you need a hole in the head).

The reason it seems to be going so big is probably "one more checkmark on the list". And- Epson holds some sort of patent in North America that effectively prevents competition in the Inkjet disc-printer market. Maybe that's why HP is pushing LightScribe instead of securing the needed rights?

All medium-range Canon Inkjet printers sold outside of North America in the last couple of years have been capable of printing CDs or DVDs. This includes last year's popular iP3000 (100 Euros) and higher or the i865 (2003 model) that I have.

These print a full-colour disc in photographic quality in 1 or 2 minutes (not half an hour), media goes for only slightly more that the regular variety and the printer is a fullfledged photo printer.

That goes for some Epson printers too (although I have personal aversions there).

G

[DeltaLima]

LightScribe is slow, expensive

Slow yes but not expensive.. I got the new DW1655 for less than a new DW1640 or a competitor without LS and I don't think t means the drive I got is of lower quality.

Yet I appreciate LS like I wrote up there and now let's hope for an improved version, LS2?

[dolphinius_rex]

Does anyone else think that Lableflash might be the better technology simply because everyone keeps calling it labelFISH? I know it's enough to sell me on the technology

It's kinda like how BluRay just sounds cooler then HDDVD, so it's obviously the better format.

[dodecahedron]

well, if they would find a way to implement the BabelFish technology i'd be all over that. i'd buy one right away.

[vinnie97]

i just want to close fist pummel customers that come in and rant about lightscribe

they will buy an entire computer based off it having a lightscribe drive

then i continue to sell them a shitty hp/compaq computer that has the lightscribe drive

I take offense to that last comment...I got a v2311us last July (AMD64 Turion) and I haven't had any glaring problems with it. What's up with all the HP hate?

[dolphinius_rex]

well, if they would find a way to implement the BabelFish technology i'd be all over that. i'd buy one right away.

You should talk to NEC and Fuji about that... I think they're desperate enough to work on that for you

[thegdog]

All medium-range Canon Inkjet printers sold outside of North America in the last couple of years have been capable of printing CDs or DVDs. This includes last year's popular iP3000 (100 Euros) and higher or the i865 (2003 model) that I have.

These print a full-colour disc in photographic quality in 1 or 2 minutes (not half an hour), media goes for only slightly more that the regular variety and the printer is a fullfledged photo printer.

That goes for some Epson printers too (although I have personal aversions there).

I have an Epson R320 photo printer which prints on CDs and DVDs and I've been quite happy with it.

That said, from most reports, inkjet printable media tends to be of more varying quality than non-printable media. So its more expensive, and you might not get as good a burn.

Its also harder to find in stores. In fact, the only inkjet printable media I have seen on store shelves are Memorex, Imation, and GQ. Oh, and Verbatim CD-Rs. In general, all of that media tends to be on the lower quality side.

The other thing that I don't like about printable inkjet media versus printing on a glossy photo label is the "glossy" part. Inkjet printable media tends to come out looking matte, whereas printing on a glossy label definitely tends to look a little more "wow". Maybe just my personal preference.

I definitely don't regret getting the Epson Stylus Photo R320 though.

[thegdog]

Now LS is more practical since it does it on the top so you always have full disk space and it does it better. Also, I don't want to invest in an ink printer and the nightmare that comes with and color laser labeling is more expensive and tricky since you have to stick perfectly a sticker on the disk.

I can't really say that I've ever found it tricky to stick a label on to my CDs and DVDs. I have a lovely CD Stomper Pro contraption where I put the label on upside down, put the CD on top face down, and press hard. Perfectly centered label in a few seconds. I smooth out the label to get rid of any air pockets and its done.

Full face labels can be more difficult since there are so many varieties of labels with the center holes slightly bigger or smaller than the next label. But even still, it ain't rocket science.

So my only grip yet is it will take me about 10 hours just for LSing all disc!!! But I'm sure everyone will be amazed by the quality of their new souvenir.

I printed out some Xmas CDs on Verbatim silver inkjet printable CDs with my Epson R320 printer and people were pretty impressed. Personally, I think more people would find color labels far more amazing than the gold/brown color they have now for LightScribe.

Maybe if they could come out with some nice colors, like a plain silver top that looked more like a plain CD.

[thegdog]

i just want to close fist pummel customers that come in and rant about lightscribe

they will buy an entire computer based off it having a lightscribe drive

I'm surprised that many people actually know about LightScribe.