DVD burner with lighscribe capabilities..what do you recommend?

Hey guys,

 

I'm looking for a good, reliable, decently priced DVD burner with

lightscribe..can you recommend some good ones?

 

thanks!

I'd go to Staples and ask one of the guys who work in electronics. :)

I bought my last 18x DVD Burner (Samsung) from newegg for about $32 shipped.

 

They go back and forth from offering free shipping...

 

-Mario

The newegg one with Lightscribe, was it this one: <a href="http://www.meritline.com/sumsung-lightsribe-18x-dvd-drive.html">http://www.meritline.com/sumsung-lightsribe-18x-dvd-drive.html</a>

 

Been looking into this tech myself.

huh...I didn't realize anyone but HP made lightscribe...good to know. I have it, but haven't used it. I've heard (and can't remember where, so may not be reliable) that lightscribe hasn't been that popular, so newer burners won't offer it??? Again, may not be true, just something to look for.

Does anyone use lightscribe? Do you like it?

Trista:

 

I use a HP dvd740 external Lightscribe burner and I like it. It burns CDs and DVDs fast and the Lightscribe feature is nice, even if it is painstakingly slow.

27-151-136 DVD_BURN SAMSUNG|SH-S182M/BEBN BK

 

-Mario

I have an Epson Sytylus Photo R340 inkjet that prints directly on printable cds and dvds. The quality is comparable to manufactured discs. I haven't had any issues with smearing. I've never timed it, but print time is less than a minute. It's $140 at Amazon.

 

I looked at the Lightscribe, but found this to be a nicer looking final product. Discs are available at WalMart, haven't noticed if the Lightscribe are or not.

 

Sam

I bought mine on Ebay, somebody had put an internal one into an external housing, the thing works wonderful and I have no complains.

Go check out Ebay :)

I have an LG Lightscribe burner that works just fine. Also have Epson 1800 that prints on disks. I use the Epson for client disks and the Lightscribe for in-house archival. Like them both for different reasons.

really liked the thin and light la cie one for portability's sake...'spensive tho' and you'd order it online.

 

i ended up w an hp one...works well, happy with it.

 

dunno about staples/office max around you folks, but up here, they don't know their butts from their elbows. i.e....don't look to them to have any particular photo oriented tech knowledge. i'd do some online research on zdnet.com and pop into a calumet if you have one nearby...

We bought a HP DVD640 external last year and, like most of the people who purchased that version, it conked out after ten disks. It was still under warranty but HP refused to replace it; kept sending us firmware to update, which didn't do anything. Bought the thing for $250; after ten burns, we sold it as junk on Ebay for $17. (No, I'm not bitter...)

 

We then purchased an LG external Lightscribe DVD burner that has worked like a dream (I don't recall the model # off the top of my head). No problems whatsoever.

 

One tip I would advise is when you're creating the image for the disc, use bold type. Also, most lightscribe burners will allow you to bump up the contrast on the burned image to really make it pop. The factory default usually presents rather bland results, but once you bump that contrast up it looks awesome.

I have the HP external one. I got it at best buy for about $120. No complaints here!

The last few LG models have been pretty good. The current model is H22L for light scribe. IMO Hp's are not that good. Benq and Pioneer are pretty good as well (generally speaking), but I think lately Pioneer has been getting weaker.

I've had an HP burner for over a year now and I do NOT recommend this technology for the following reasons:

 

1. The cost of the lightscribe-able discs have not come down compared to the regular discs. Only a few companies make them (Verbatim, Memorex) and therefore have a lock on the market.

 

2. Clear images can only be achieved on COMPACT DISCS. DVD discs due to their composite layering do not give the same results one might expect. The images lack contrast (muddy) and has an "out-of-focus" quality. I was informed by HP technical support that you can burn the image twice...which is true...you will get an image which has more contrast, but you will spend double the time making a label - which may or maynot be an issue.

 

3. After several months a powdery white residue will form on the image side. You can wipe it off...but it is annoying and I'm not sure if it can have any detrimental effect on the DVD laser lens, should some of it come off while in the player.

 

4. DOUBLE layer DVD blank discs are VERY expensive.

 

5. Only monotone images are possible at this time.

 

6. Frankly the labels possible on Canon and Inkjet printers are phenomenal. White blank disks are cheaper although it probably evens out when factoring in the cost of ink....however, you can make perfect labels in COLOR. So perfect in fact they look better than commercially produced DVD/CD labels. I usually give my label a silkscreen type look while in photoshop before printing them on the discs.