What is Going on with Lightscribe?

[jberry]

Any news on this...asked a sales guy at staples about sales....said they are poor...Future shop has the Benq 1625 for $99 now...was thinking about getting it.


Lots of press on this and other sites a few months back on lightscribe....seems to have petered off though...any news on it? Improvements?

[Ian]

Right now HP seems to have a stranglehold on the technology. Their OEM's (Lite-On and BenQ) seem to be the only companies producing drives. I have a feeling they want to make as much $$$ as they can off the technology before letting everyone sell LightScribe capable drives. Hopefully by this time we'll see 2x LS media.

One big problem is the licensing fees. I think HP wants something like $15 per drive. Pretty ridiculous IMO. This has made companies develop Lightscribe alternatives. The NEC ND-4550A is supposed to use a technology partly developed by Yamaha called the "Laser Labelling System". I don't know much about LLS.. just that we'll be hearing a lot about it this fall.

[jberry]

thanks Ian....Futureshop said sales poor too....I guess people are reaing sites like these and seeing that 30 min to print a label is too long for the price

[VEFF]

I bought a color CD / DVD printer instead, for the following reasons:

1) Lightscribe DVD media is far too expensive right now (when it can be found, that is).
2) Lightscribe printing is very slow.
3) Lightscribe printing is, currently at least, 'black and white' only.
4) Lightscribe printing ties up the burner.

[jberry]

I'll wait for a bit

[hoxlund]

epson r320 baby

color lables, media is super cheap, looks 10x better then any kind of laser labeling

[dolphinius_rex]

Microboards Print Factory 2 baby, with a laminator. The single highest quality printing available for a recorded CDR or DVDR. Also pretty expensive. But it looks better then a silkscreen, and the cost of printing a full colour full coverage disc is <$0.20 (if you follow the available propaganda... probably closer to $0.30 or $0.35 but still good).

[jberry]

Hmmmm....Microboards....

http://www.mediasupply.com/prf-2000-01-1.html

got $2000?? U.S. no less

[dolphinius_rex]

The lowest possible advertisable price is just slightly less then $2000. Anyone who advertises lower then that will have their distributorship pulled by the supplier. *HOWEVER* I said advertised price, the selling price can be lower. But take it from me, it doens't get much lower then that.

It's not a consumer device. But it *IS* the best

[pranav81]

I would wait till LS media gets cheaper.IMO,a CD-DVD printer is always a better option.


::Pranav::

[MediumRare]

... a technology partly developed by Yamaha called the "Laser Labelling System".

This sounds a lot like Burnproof vs. Justlink vs. Smartburn vs. (you name it), although a lot less usefull.

I love how my Canon i865 prints a disc in half a minute and in colour (one of the few time when living in Europe has technical advantages )!!

G

[Jbird]

epson r320 baby

color lables, media is super cheap, looks 10x better then any kind of laser labeling

I don't agree, I have an R200 and a LS burner. They both look good, they jjust look different. The color jumps out when I print on the r200. The same lable printed with LS. It has a sharpness I don't think ink can ever produce.

Each has aspects I like. I've printed hundreds on my Epson, and maybe 50 on my HP.

[Advenger]

I take exeptions to your Epsom printer cost. I researched it before I purchaced the cost of ink for the Epsom printers is OUTRAGOUS!!!! If you think ls media is bad try Epsom ink!! For my use a couple of disks burns a week the Light scribe is the way to go. It is slow now but looks great and 2x media will be here before the end of the year.

[aristottle]

Well I am not big on labels but thought it would be a cool feature to have....until I saw the price of the blank media....then I passed. Too exspensive and too slow for my uses.