CD/DVD Labelling at DVinfo.net

J. Clayton Stansberry · November 25th, 2003, 12:53 PM

Hey Guys,

Just wondering what software you guys use for labelling DVD's and CD's with the stickers...on the MAC. I can't seem to find anything that really works. I got the afterburner labelling kit and that program won't work on Panther. Thanks in advance.

Clay

P.S. Is this the right place to post this? Please move if necessary.

Michael Westphal · November 25th, 2003, 10:08 PM

I use Discus 2.74 on Jaguar; I haven't upgraded to Panther yet.
Mostly I use it with an Epson Stylus Photo 900 to print direct on disk, but it supports many standard printable labels.

www.magicmouse.com

But a word of warning, it doesn't do well with multiple layered graphics. I've resorted to building my own templates in Photoshop for complex labels. But for simple quick labels, it works great (for me...).

J. Clayton Stansberry · December 2nd, 2003, 07:29 PM

So, you just design your own? Is this what others do as well? What about backgrounds, themes, etc? How do you handle those? Thanks in advance....

Clay

Michael Westphal · December 10th, 2003, 09:22 PM

Yes, I design my own in Photoshop, but I also use the pre-built stuff in Discus. It has a whole-lotta backgrounds built in. Some of them are quite nice, and some are rather strange.

Check it out on their website. It's pretty cool.

The best part is being able to precisely control the placement of text, especially text on circular paths.

J. Clayton Stansberry · December 10th, 2003, 10:40 PM

Thanks Michael. I downloaded their demo and WOW, lots of backgrounds! Not too many to use in a "professional" setting, but cool nontheless. I may be going the photoshop route. Thanks again for the info.

Clay

David Hurdon · December 11th, 2003, 06:48 AM

You are likely to be much happier printing to disk than labeling DVDs if you're in a professional environment. Not everyone reports trouble with labeled DVDs but many do, including myself. I delivered a project on two disks, each with roughly an hour of video, and labeled. The first one stopped working after 40 minutes, started with gross pixelation and quickly failed. The unlabeled copies were perfect in playback. If you search on this topic you'll find many examples of good and bad results.

David Hurdon

J. Clayton Stansberry · December 11th, 2003, 10:46 AM

David,

Thanks for the advice. After receiving this months emedia mag, I read the review of all the labelling printers and didn't know that you can get a direct to DVD/CD printer for such a good price (even though they are inkjets). What kind of printer do you use for your direct-to printing? What software?

Clay

Peter Moore · December 11th, 2003, 10:08 PM

Just remember a lot of people, including me, sometimes have problems reading DVDs that have labels affixed to them. I totally don't understand why, since there's NO problem with CDs, but it's some quirky thing about DVD-Rs.

David Hurdon · December 12th, 2003, 05:43 AM

Clay

I'm still on the fence. I've seen the output of the Epson 900 and I've had replication done for me on the Bravo system. My kind of customer has been happy with printed elements to the packaging rather than the disk so I haven't had to make a decision yet.

David Hurdon

J. Clayton Stansberry · December 12th, 2003, 09:14 AM

David,

So you just leave the Disk blank, printwise? I would think that most people wouldn't know which is up or down, which side to touch, not touch, etc. I just had a customer call and say their DVD didn't work. They said it would get to the third scene and just stop. And, the sound was not working all too well. It may be the fact that it had a label on it as Peter suggested. Who knows? I would like to know your "technique" for delivering the final product! Thanks in advance...

Clay

Zac Stein · December 12th, 2003, 09:25 AM

Labels are NEVER a good idea, they tend to come off and break players!!!

99% of places here, like universities and so on will not accept a cd or a dvd with a label on it.

Either get that yamaha cd burner that lazers it's label on it, use a printing screen style with paint, or simply use a stencil.

But labels are bad, evil and just not good.

Zac

Peter Moore · December 12th, 2003, 11:17 AM

I've never heard of a label coming off, though I guess it's possible. All the labels I get are stuck so tight it's physically impossible to remove them without chemicals.

Jack Robertson · December 14th, 2003, 11:51 AM

DVDs get much hotter than CDs and that may the why DVDs cannot cope with labels stuck to them as well as CDs. However I was never a big fan of labels until I heard of thermal printing onto discs was available... but once again that is very expensive.

I guess the bubble jet way isn't so bad as long as it is sealed some way to protect it againts water smudges.

Cheers,
Jack

Peter Moore · December 15th, 2003, 09:32 AM

Interestingly, though, I submitted two DVD-Rs for replication and they both had labels on them, and the replicated disks came back without a problem. I guess some DVD readers are better than others. Maybe the slower the better. I just need to find a way to reliably remove the labels on my DVDs, because none of them read properly now. I tried pulling them off and they come off for the most part but there's still some residue in some places.

J. Clayton Stansberry · December 15th, 2003, 10:48 AM

Peter,

I don't know where you are, but there is a product called goo-b-gone, or something like that. It claims to remove the sticty stuff left by stickers and such, you may try that.

I been looking at an Epson 960 inkjet printer and wondered if anyone had any other advice, etc. Of course with this way, I realize that I will have to find some way to seal it after printing. I will have to find that thread again and order the sealant. Thanks for any advice on the 960...

Clay

November 25th, 2003, 12:53 PM	#1
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	CD/DVD Labelling Hey Guys, Just wondering what software you guys use for labelling DVD's and CD's with the stickers...on the MAC. I can't seem to find anything that really works. I got the afterburner labelling kit and that program won't work on Panther. Thanks in advance. Clay P.S. Is this the right place to post this? Please move if necessary. __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

November 25th, 2003, 10:08 PM	#2
Michael Westphal Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Baton Rouge, LA Posts: 166	I use Discus 2.74 on Jaguar; I haven't upgraded to Panther yet. Mostly I use it with an Epson Stylus Photo 900 to print direct on disk, but it supports many standard printable labels. www.magicmouse.com But a word of warning, it doesn't do well with multiple layered graphics. I've resorted to building my own templates in Photoshop for complex labels. But for simple quick labels, it works great (for me...). __________________ Michael A Westphal

December 2nd, 2003, 07:29 PM	#3
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	So, you just design your own? Is this what others do as well? What about backgrounds, themes, etc? How do you handle those? Thanks in advance.... Clay __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

December 10th, 2003, 09:22 PM	#4
Michael Westphal Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Baton Rouge, LA Posts: 166	Yes, I design my own in Photoshop, but I also use the pre-built stuff in Discus. It has a whole-lotta backgrounds built in. Some of them are quite nice, and some are rather strange. Check it out on their website. It's pretty cool. The best part is being able to precisely control the placement of text, especially text on circular paths. __________________ Michael A Westphal

December 10th, 2003, 10:40 PM	#5
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	Thanks Michael. I downloaded their demo and WOW, lots of backgrounds! Not too many to use in a "professional" setting, but cool nontheless. I may be going the photoshop route. Thanks again for the info. Clay __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

December 11th, 2003, 06:48 AM	#6
David Hurdon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 484	You are likely to be much happier printing to disk than labeling DVDs if you're in a professional environment. Not everyone reports trouble with labeled DVDs but many do, including myself. I delivered a project on two disks, each with roughly an hour of video, and labeled. The first one stopped working after 40 minutes, started with gross pixelation and quickly failed. The unlabeled copies were perfect in playback. If you search on this topic you'll find many examples of good and bad results. David Hurdon __________________ Site:http://www.faceliftmarketing.ca Blog:http://www.websitevideo.blogspot.com

December 11th, 2003, 10:46 AM	#7
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	David, Thanks for the advice. After receiving this months emedia mag, I read the review of all the labelling printers and didn't know that you can get a direct to DVD/CD printer for such a good price (even though they are inkjets). What kind of printer do you use for your direct-to printing? What software? Clay __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

December 11th, 2003, 10:08 PM	#8
Peter Moore Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arlington VA Posts: 1,034	Just remember a lot of people, including me, sometimes have problems reading DVDs that have labels affixed to them. I totally don't understand why, since there's NO problem with CDs, but it's some quirky thing about DVD-Rs.

December 12th, 2003, 05:43 AM	#9
David Hurdon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 484	Clay I'm still on the fence. I've seen the output of the Epson 900 and I've had replication done for me on the Bravo system. My kind of customer has been happy with printed elements to the packaging rather than the disk so I haven't had to make a decision yet. David Hurdon __________________ Site:http://www.faceliftmarketing.ca Blog:http://www.websitevideo.blogspot.com

December 12th, 2003, 09:14 AM	#10
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	David, So you just leave the Disk blank, printwise? I would think that most people wouldn't know which is up or down, which side to touch, not touch, etc. I just had a customer call and say their DVD didn't work. They said it would get to the third scene and just stop. And, the sound was not working all too well. It may be the fact that it had a label on it as Peter suggested. Who knows? I would like to know your "technique" for delivering the final product! Thanks in advance... Clay __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

December 12th, 2003, 09:25 AM	#11
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	Labels are NEVER a good idea, they tend to come off and break players!!! 99% of places here, like universities and so on will not accept a cd or a dvd with a label on it. Either get that yamaha cd burner that lazers it's label on it, use a printing screen style with paint, or simply use a stencil. But labels are bad, evil and just not good. Zac

December 12th, 2003, 11:17 AM	#12
Peter Moore Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arlington VA Posts: 1,034	I've never heard of a label coming off, though I guess it's possible. All the labels I get are stuck so tight it's physically impossible to remove them without chemicals.

December 14th, 2003, 11:51 AM	#13
Jack Robertson Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 125	DVDs get much hotter than CDs and that may the why DVDs cannot cope with labels stuck to them as well as CDs. However I was never a big fan of labels until I heard of thermal printing onto discs was available... but once again that is very expensive. I guess the bubble jet way isn't so bad as long as it is sealed some way to protect it againts water smudges. Cheers, Jack

December 15th, 2003, 09:32 AM	#14
Peter Moore Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arlington VA Posts: 1,034	Interestingly, though, I submitted two DVD-Rs for replication and they both had labels on them, and the replicated disks came back without a problem. I guess some DVD readers are better than others. Maybe the slower the better. I just need to find a way to reliably remove the labels on my DVDs, because none of them read properly now. I tried pulling them off and they come off for the most part but there's still some residue in some places.

December 15th, 2003, 10:48 AM	#15
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	Peter, I don't know where you are, but there is a product called goo-b-gone, or something like that. It claims to remove the sticty stuff left by stickers and such, you may try that. I been looking at an Epson 960 inkjet printer and wondered if anyone had any other advice, etc. Of course with this way, I realize that I will have to find some way to seal it after printing. I will have to find that thread again and order the sealant. Thanks for any advice on the 960... Clay __________________ I understand everything about nothing.