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Copy to Lightscribe Disk
By: rekha singh | 12 Mar 2010 2:02 pm
I am running Vista Ultimate on a two year old quad processor (HP). The computer has two DVD drives one of which is a Lightscribe DVD Supermulti Drive. The blank disks that I have are HP DVD+R Lightscribe disks I have a regular DVD that is the copy of a TV Show that I want to put on a Lightscribe disk. I have already made a regular copy of the disk using Nero Start Smart and all working fine. Now I want to copy the disk to a Lightscribe disk and put the title etc on the surface of the Lightscribe disk. Decided to do some research before I start so I dont waste a Lightscribe disk. How do I do that. Suggestions Please CommentsIf your etching doesn't turn out as expected, simply place a paper label over top and your DVD or CD is still usable. In fact you might want to try a few times with different options in place to get the best results. I tried the etching part first before burning the disc to see the results. That's when I first became unimpressed with no color and the large missing center area. Etching with LS is ok but you're limited to no color and a smaller working surface. In my opinion they would be fine for labeling data or file discs where you mostly use some text and small pictures. But for movie or music discs I prefer larger photos and text showing the contents very similar to what one gets commercially.
By: rekha singh | 18 Mar 2010
Thanks for this information. I had been wondering about the quality, options and limitations, if any, with LS etching. Much appreciated.
By: rekha singh | 18 Mar 2010
I used my LS drive just last week for the first time. You should have no problem copying your disc to a LS disc. It sounds like you will have 2 options. Copying from one drive to the other. That would be source to destination. Or you can copy from source to pc, and then from pc to destination. It really doesn't matter how you do it or what drives you use for either. In fact I did my copying on my downstairs old wxp sys. and did it to file as I just used the one newer and faster drive. The LS part comes up when you want to create your labeling on the LS disc. That is when you must turn over the LS disc so the labeling side is being used rather than the date side. Then simply create your label and burn that to your LS disc. A couple of things I found out after doing my first one is that the LS creation is black and white only. Also there is one big 1 3/4 inch hole in the center. For this reason I'm not impressed with LS created labeling and have gone back to full coverage paper labels. But the discs did play well on my TV through my DVD player. One other tip, burn the disc at as low a speed as possible. Most burning programs by default want to burn at too darn high a speed. I always go down to 6 or 8 times rather than 48 times! Have never had a problem doing it this way with the resulting product playing anywhere and no skipping.
By: rekha singh | 18 Mar 2010
I searched my disks and found a lightscribe application and was able to burn a simple label and print a DVD holder insert. The only problem I found with the software is it seems to only burn in a ring close to the center of the disk and not much room for information. Is there a hardware limit with the LS disks that burning is restricted to that small ring or is there other software that will use more of the disks area?
By: rekha singh | 19 Mar 2010
I'm really not into LS for the reasons that I mentioned. But from what I've researched, there are different levels of coverage in the available print area. It seems you're printing on one of the smaller areas. I'm really not sure how one gets to pick the area he wants to utilize? The different areas show up as bands of different sizes. The band you pick from smaller to larger has an impact on the time it takes to create your disc. My suggestion is to join the LS group message board. I looked around it for a bit. Also it may depend on the software you're using. I have Surething and it's a great program. Probably the best I've seen since the old Adaptec. I hate the ones that come with Nero and Roxio. Roxio bought out Adaptec a long time ago and has since butchered it beyond belief. One could do anything with that program. I've found Surething to almost comparable. The LS template that comes with it shows the entire printing area. I'm sure I could choose a different smaller area if I desired but I just haven't tried it. I think I'll wait until LS improves to include a larger full coverage area and also color if it ever happens. If I get time I'll take a look at my software and see if it does give choices beyond the large area it shows.
By: rekha singh | 19 Mar 2010
I'd like to clarify something. There are 21 current templates for LS discs and not 12 as I previously stated. I'm not sure how many are included in the free trial download? I purchased the CD strictly because it comes with a lot more templates than the downloaded free trial version. I'm sure there are some included that one can fool around with. I've used Surething for about 10 or so projects so far. Each one came out perfect, far exceeding my expectations. The shipping was fast and the support is great. For anybody who does a lot of label creations, this is the best I've seen. I've shipped CD's & DVD's all over the world and the feedback on my labels has been overwhelming. Simply out of curiosity, I'll play around and see what I can create using the LS discs even if I'm not fond of the size limitations as far as photos go. Some of the boards mention that the etched results are not too clear. However I see there are options to increase the contrast. Most LS discs come in a generic gold colored background. However some can be found in assorted background colors as red, blue, geen, yellow, etc. I'm by no way an expert and would appreciate anybody else who has some tips to jump in and let me know. Hopefully the LS technology will only improve.
By: rekha singh | 19 Mar 2010
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