FYI:

I have an HP DVD640e Lightscribe External burner. It came with SureThing CD Labeler 4 SE.

I attempted to burn my first Lightscribe DVD using the Verbatim media . Upon printing the label in SureThing CD Labeler 4 SE, I got an error message basically saying that the media was not recognized. The error message box has a button which will access the internet to check for an update to presumably fix the issue. All that pressing the button does is take you to an HP support website which consists solely of a search box. Nice tech support... You can link to the web to verify that you have the latest firmware for your drive, but that's it so far as I know.

Now for the good news. I updated the HP drivers using the file provided in the MVD.com forum post 'Lightscribe drivers here' (link below). The software then burned an image on the DVD.

http://forums.mvd2.com/tm.asp?m=2299...mode=1&smode=1

Now more bad news...

I have noticed that the label images I can burn with Verbatim Lightscribe DVDs are not as crisp or as dark as those I can burn with Verbatim Lightscribe CDs. Has anyone else seen this yet?

The DVD images seems a little blurry in comparison to the CD images. I can improve the darkness of the DVD images by burning twice, but even then I don't think the image is on par with what I can burn on the CDs.

The topcoating on the Verbatim DVDs I have seems thicker than that of the CDs..

I have three ideas. I'll send an e-mail to HP and Verbatim tech support with the issue also.

My ideas....

1)Early manufacturing flaw on the DVDs.

2) A necessary manufacturing difference between the DVDs and CDs yielding a different quality image between the CD and DVD.

3) Some problem with the burner drivers recognizing the newer DVD disks, resulting in a lesser quality image burn.

Any confirmation of what I've experienced or help fixing the image burn quality for the Verbatim Lightscribe DVDs is greatly appreciated.

- Brett Jones

OK. I got my response back from Verbatim. The problem with the DVD image quality vs. the CD image quality is inherent and not a flaw or bad burner driver. I appreciate the quick, honest response from Verbatim. I will be reporting how the Memorex and HP Lightscribe DVD media perform ASAP, although I suspect we'll see the same results.

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Dear Brett -

I am sorry you are disappointed with the DVD image.

Unfortunately, the effects you see on the DVD are real and unavoidable. It is caused by the extra reflection of a DVD, due to the multiple DVD surface (a DVD is composed of 2 discs glued together, and CD is only one thick disc). So you get an almost holographic effect. The effect of the shadow will depend on the image type also. We use the same basic ink composition for DVD and CD to the discs would otherwise look the same. It is possible that we could alter the DVD disc composition sometime in the future, but it
is still in development.

Best regards,

Tim
Verbatim

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Tim,

I do think people who've burned pictures with the CDs will be wondering what's going on with the DVDs. There's nothing out on the web that explains that there will be a difference.

Compound that the frustration with the fact that people have had to wait longer than anticipated for the DVDs to enter the distribution chain, and some folks are going to be upset.

The images you can make with the DVDs are not horrible by themselves, but unfortunately you can easily compare them to the CD images, and they look inferior by comparison.

Thanks for answering the question.

-Brett

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Brett,

Thanks for the feedback. We will certainly consider a modification for the next generation. Also, appreciate your advice on publicizing the differences between CD and DVD images.

Tim
Verbatim

Bobandtom- Thanks for the info!!

Brett,

You seemed to have gone through exactly the same path as I have. I was blown away by the quality of the image that I had burnt onto the sample LIghtscribe DVD which came with my HP640 dvd burner.

I got the same media problem message. Downloaded the upgrade and that was solved.

DVD image quality does suffer quite a bit when compared to CD discs due to the different layer structure of a DVD disc. Im sure this can be easily solved and will be solved in the future...but I guess as early users of this technology, you and I are guinea pigs.

The best tip I can give is to make your images higher in contrast , larger bolder fonts etc...anything to punch things up.

Regards,

Jeff

Well i don't think for one that this problem is exceptable the companies who flogged this idea to death have done nothing but praise the technology. How is it possible to praise something knowing that it's process is not exceptable. In terms of testing these companies knew there was some difference in quality between that of DVD and CD. The whole idea is that this concept is supposed to be better then ink jet printing but obviously it is not. I have managed to produce some reasonable effects on DVD but providing you are happy to waste DVD discs to test different ideas i would forget it and stick to ink jet printing for the moment where DVD is concerned.

* * Moved thread from Blank Media forum to CD & DVD Printing and Labeling forum * *