Hey Guys,

Just wondering what software you guys use for labelling DVD's and CD's with the stickers...on the MAC. I can't seem to find anything that really works. I got the afterburner labelling kit and that program won't work on Panther. Thanks in advance.

Clay

P.S. Is this the right place to post this? Please move if necessary.

I use Discus 2.74 on Jaguar; I haven't upgraded to Panther yet.
Mostly I use it with an Epson Stylus Photo 900 to print direct on disk, but it supports many standard printable labels.

www.magicmouse.com

But a word of warning, it doesn't do well with multiple layered graphics. I've resorted to building my own templates in Photoshop for complex labels. But for simple quick labels, it works great (for me...).

So, you just design your own? Is this what others do as well? What about backgrounds, themes, etc? How do you handle those? Thanks in advance....

Clay

Yes, I design my own in Photoshop, but I also use the pre-built stuff in Discus. It has a whole-lotta backgrounds built in. Some of them are quite nice, and some are rather strange.

Check it out on their website. It's pretty cool.

The best part is being able to precisely control the placement of text, especially text on circular paths.

Thanks Michael. I downloaded their demo and WOW, lots of backgrounds! Not too many to use in a "professional" setting, but cool nontheless. I may be going the photoshop route. Thanks again for the info.

Clay

You are likely to be much happier printing to disk than labeling DVDs if you're in a professional environment. Not everyone reports trouble with labeled DVDs but many do, including myself. I delivered a project on two disks, each with roughly an hour of video, and labeled. The first one stopped working after 40 minutes, started with gross pixelation and quickly failed. The unlabeled copies were perfect in playback. If you search on this topic you'll find many examples of good and bad results.

David Hurdon

David,

Thanks for the advice. After receiving this months emedia mag, I read the review of all the labelling printers and didn't know that you can get a direct to DVD/CD printer for such a good price (even though they are inkjets). What kind of printer do you use for your direct-to printing? What software?

Clay

Just remember a lot of people, including me, sometimes have problems reading DVDs that have labels affixed to them. I totally don't understand why, since there's NO problem with CDs, but it's some quirky thing about DVD-Rs.

Clay

I'm still on the fence. I've seen the output of the Epson 900 and I've had replication done for me on the Bravo system. My kind of customer has been happy with printed elements to the packaging rather than the disk so I haven't had to make a decision yet.

David Hurdon

David,

So you just leave the Disk blank, printwise? I would think that most people wouldn't know which is up or down, which side to touch, not touch, etc. I just had a customer call and say their DVD didn't work. They said it would get to the third scene and just stop. And, the sound was not working all too well. It may be the fact that it had a label on it as Peter suggested. Who knows? I would like to know your "technique" for delivering the final product! Thanks in advance...

Clay

Labels are NEVER a good idea, they tend to come off and break players!!!

99% of places here, like universities and so on will not accept a cd or a dvd with a label on it.

Either get that yamaha cd burner that lazers it's label on it, use a printing screen style with paint, or simply use a stencil.

But labels are bad, evil and just not good.

Zac

I've never heard of a label coming off, though I guess it's possible. All the labels I get are stuck so tight it's physically impossible to remove them without chemicals.

DVDs get much hotter than CDs and that may the why DVDs cannot cope with labels stuck to them as well as CDs. However I was never a big fan of labels until I heard of thermal printing onto discs was available... but once again that is very expensive.

I guess the bubble jet way isn't so bad as long as it is sealed some way to protect it againts water smudges.

Cheers,
Jack

Interestingly, though, I submitted two DVD-Rs for replication and they both had labels on them, and the replicated disks came back without a problem. I guess some DVD readers are better than others. Maybe the slower the better. I just need to find a way to reliably remove the labels on my DVDs, because none of them read properly now. I tried pulling them off and they come off for the most part but there's still some residue in some places.

Peter,

I don't know where you are, but there is a product called goo-b-gone, or something like that. It claims to remove the sticty stuff left by stickers and such, you may try that.

I been looking at an Epson 960 inkjet printer and wondered if anyone had any other advice, etc. Of course with this way, I realize that I will have to find some way to seal it after printing. I will have to find that thread again and order the sealant. Thanks for any advice on the 960...

Clay

I am fascinated by the fact that some people use labels quite successfully while others get nothing but grief from them.

In my own experience, I have yet to see a single instance where our labelled disk won't play while an unlabelled version will. To date we've distributed close to 400 disks.

I agree that, conceptually, it would be nice to print directly on a disk. Currently, however, it seems that doing so leaves a bit to be desired in the color saturation and smearability categories (Hmmm... I'm not sure that "smearability" is a real word.)

The DVD-R blanks are Ritek G04 and are burned at 4X. We use only Meritline Glossy labels and apply them with a Stomper tool. The printing is done with an Epson C80 printer, which uses pigment inks. Such inks are smearproof, waterproof, and won't fade over time.

After the label is positioned with the Stomper tool we ensure a good uniform bond by placing the disk on a thin cotton cloth (such as an old T-shirt), and place a thicker towel-like cloth on top. We then use a rolling pin, starting at the center of the disk, and roll in three directions firmly. The finished disk looks beautiful and, as mentioned, plays normally.


Peter Moore: I found that you can remove a label completely using the following methodology:

(1) Spray WD-40 on the label liberally and let it sit (outdoors--it stinks) for a while.

(2) Remove the label and adhesive with your fingertips --it should come off quite easily.

(3) Now we need to remove the WD-40. Gently wash the disk with dish liquid soap and rinse; then do it again.

(4) Once the disk is completely free of WD-40, gently dry it using only a soft cotton material like an old T-shirt.

(5) You should now have a nice, clean, shiny disk.

Also see this new technology (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19725) that is coming for labeling!

Take a look at the Epson R300.