Anyone using lightscribe dvd's?

[Noa Put]

I shoot a few dance performances every year, don't have that many dvd's to print (about 300, max 400 for these performances only, this is excl the dvd's I have to print for my weddings)

Until now I have been using 2 internal dvd burners in my pc but I have been thinking about getting a small disc duplicator that can do 30 to 50 discs an hour (with 3 or 5 build in dvd burners), I see that some support lightscribe technology and it would save me time and money not having to use my printer anymore to print something on my discs.

Is there anyone using these discs to supply to their clients? I was thinking that even for weddings the standard gold color discs might be fine, anyone with any experience with these kind of discs?

Also, there is a option to choose between lg burners and sony optiarcs, the sonys are more expensive but I wonder if they make a difference? Anyone knows?

[Chris Medico]

I used to use them but don't anymore. They are nice for filling out some text or something simple. The process is WAY too slow. Painfully slow actually. Waiting 15 min for ONE disk to print will drive you insane when you have a stack of them to do.

I switched to inkjet printable DVDs for any presentation quality projects. I run them through an Epson printer that has a DVD printing tray. Fast and full color. No labels to screw up and get misaligned. With the cost difference in DVDs it is only slightly more expensive than lightscribe. The time savings alone was worth the costs difference for me. Being able to do full color with the inkjet is nice.

[Noa Put]

Thx Chris for letting me know, had no idea it took so long to do one dvd, that's no option for me. I do my prints on my dvd's on a canon printer, has been working fine but thought the lightscribe ones would save me time...

[Chris Medico]

Unless there has been some breakthrough in printing speed you won't like it.

The Wiki page for lightscribe indicates that HP has abandoned the technology.

[Bruce Dempsey]

I have a vinpower lightscribe duplicator can duplicate 12 lightscribe labels at a time then flip them over and duplicate the data side
The graphics capability of lasers mean crisp b/w images and are very fine.
Light scribe blank dvds are no more expensive than plain when you look around.
The graphics tend to fade in time if exposed to light

[Noa Put]

Bruce, does it also take 15 minutes in your case to print the labels for 1 dvd?

[Bruce Dempsey]

If you have a lightscribe duplicator, and you are making them 12 at once, then another 12 and so on until you have however many you need, the time for an individual disc isn't the main factor
You have to design the label (as you would for ink printing) and there are a multitude of templates which come with the vinpower setup. and a small learning curve. They are all black and white btw but colored discs can be used.
I've done lightscribe runs in the hundreds and time to etch was just another step
I don't put labels on discs much anymore because I must be getting lazy and my dance, figureskating, etc clients don't seem to care about anything other than the content so I just don't bother with any labeling anymore.

[Rob Cantwell]

i installed a blueray player/writer in my system that could also burn lightscribe discs, i remember doing a job that required ten discs, thought it would never end, seemed to go on for ages, haven't used it since except for a single disc every now and then

:)

[Taky Cheung]

The problem with light scribe is it takes a long time to print, I was told it takes another 45 min to print the artwork. I never own one tho.

I'm also using Epson inkjet printed with CISS ink. Saves lots of money. Also print with TY/JVC water shield glossy disc. The difference is day and night.

InkXPro CISS for Epson Artisan 730 Printer | L.A. Color Pros Blog

[Noa Put]

Thx for the replies so far, I use a canon pixma ip4950 and refill the inkttanks myself but that is each time a bit messy which is why I thought lightscribe would be a good solution, only it's not when it takes to long to print. Yesterday I ordered a dvd duplicator with build in harddisc that can do only 3 dvd's at a time, like I said I only do 300 to 400 dvd's every year of dance-performances so being able to do about 30 discs per hour is sufficient for my use.

For my printer though I plan to look into this "ciss" solution as well and maybe buy a new printer for that (printers are almost free these days as you pay mainly for the ink :)), seems much more easy to maintain then to each time fill the small cartridges.