In early 2005 HP and Lite-on launched Lightscribe, a technology that etches images onto the top side of DVDs. Fujifilm and Yamaha responded in mid 2005 with their very similar Labelflash technology, but cunningly charged fewer royalties for it.
The technology was very expensive at the beginning, with DVD writers retailing at £100 and blank discs costing as much as £1.50 a piece. However, times change and today we're reviewing a Labelflash DVD writer from NEC that costs less than £25.
The technology lets you put any image or text onto the top of the disk. This means using a permanent marker or sticking a label onto discs is a thing of the past. After burning a DVD, you flip it over and plonk the disc back in the drive and then 'burn' an image to it. The images are 256 greyscale and appear in various blues on Labelflash disks.
Initially we couldn't get the drive to burn images, bizarrely because we were using a US version of Nero 7. Nero versions 6.6.1.3 and 7.0.8.2 (European) and above are compatible.
Once we were provided with working software, making attractive disks was a doddle. You select Nero Design Cover, design what you want put on it (like any other paint program) and then hit Burn.
The drive boasts some of the fastest write speeds we've seen. 18x for ±R meant we filled a full DVD in just six minutes 40 seconds. Image burning time ranges from seven to 26 minutes at the highest quality.
By choosing a much higher contrast we produced an even more vibrant image in 45 minutes. The 12x DVD-Ram, x8 dual-layer writing and the obligatory RW support means it has all the formats supported, and at excellent speeds.
We've seen Labelflash disks for £1 a go online, which is twice the price of Lightscribe discs. Despite this you'll only want to use them for special occasions and we'd hope blank disc prices will fall (but they haven't in the past 10 months).
We've seen the drive online for less than £23 which makes it very cheap and comparable to drives that lack Labelflash technology. We've also seen Lightscribe drives available online for a similar price. The debate continues to rage as to which produces better results and it is generally accepted that Labelflash produces better contrast whereas Lightscribe produces more vivid images.
In the furore over Blu-ray and HD-DVD, Labelflash has been overlooked. There's no reason we won't see image burning on future Blu-ray/HD-DVD formats and we believe this evolutionary and underestimated technology deserves more credit than it's had.
Industry insiders say that full-colour images will eventually be a reality, however don't hold your breath as there are significant technical hurdles to jump before this happens.
Also consider:
NEC ND-4551A
An excellent DVD drive supporting every format and Labelflash technology to burn
images on both sides of the disc
LG GSA-H10N removable media
Don’t be put off by the need for an internal installation – the LG GSA-H10N is a
cheap and easy way of adding multiformat disc reading and writing to your PC
Pioneer DVR-111 DVD writer
Not vastly different from the DVR-110, but if you're after a cheap and versatile
optical drive it's a good choice
Nero 7 Premium Reloaded authoring software
An above-average suite for multimedia with a tool for every job
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