People with problems with DVD Labels.....READ!!!!

[lrosado]

Want to know if the individuals that have had problems with DVD Labels are you using the Labels that cover all the way to the edge of the center hole or are you using the Labels that cover up to the beginning of the center hub?

Also same question to those that it does work for with no playback problems, Which ones do you use?

[2COOL]

Originally posted by lrosado
Want to know if the individuals that have had problems with DVD Labels are you using the Labels that cover all the way to the edge of the center hole or are you using the Labels that cover up to the beginning of the center hub?

Also same question to those that it does work for with no playback problems, Which ones do you use?

@lrosado

Why the need to open up another label thread? This has been brought up by other informative threads.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57410&highlight=dvd+labels
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47455&highlight=dvd+labels
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36127&highlight=dvd+labels
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31665&highlight=dvd+labels
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24936&highlight=dvd+labels

Here's a website (http://www.osta.org/technology/cdqa11.htm) talking about disc labeling.

Here's one (http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=65104) about using Sharpie markers to write on your DVD.

This (http://www.thewholewideweb.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=324) talks about labels, pens, and printers.

As for me, I have strayed away from full labels and use hub labels. I don't have to worry about adhesive on the non plastic area. ;)

[windtrader]

2COOL,

Thanks for the link on Sharpies. I have had a concern on this topic and the information points to the Dixon RediSharp Plus! waterbased permanent markers as the optimal ones to use for DVDs.

Let's start formally boycott Sharpies on Doom9.

I don't remember seeing this in the FAQ.

Doom9, can you add this common topic to the FAQ?

thx

[timekills]

FYI that first link has an adition to I made regarding a test I did on a labeled and unlabeled copy of the same DVD over three months, and the same DVD after removing the label as well.

Bottom line, the labeled DVD wouldn't play and had extremely high (200+) CI and CO errors after three months, but after removing the label, it played fine, with error marks around the 20-30 level (very low). Same DVD - just after removing the label.

[kbuegel]

Having problems- heres the details:
Using Avery Afterburner matte finish paper labels, and using the supplied springy tool to apply them. These labels cover all the way to the hub, but leave about 1/8 inch between the hole and the start of the label. likewise on the outside edge, there is about 1/8 inch clearance. Most of my labels are very accurately centered, but now and then I accidentally apply the label somewhat off center. In all cases that I've done that there was no discernable wobble sounds or evidence that the disk was having any trouble reading due to being slightly off center. I almost always check the verify checkbox on Nero when writing, so after the DVD is burned, it is reread and validated against the source. Very rarely has there ever been an error and if there is, I discard the disk and burn again.

I'm using inexpensive HP injet printers and generally cover the whole label with ink (I use the movie poster and crop it and adjust it with photoshop or fireworks).

The media I use is always name brand- mostly Memorex or Verbatim, but I recent bought 50 HP's and have about 100 phillips DVD's (these seem like generics with phillips name on them, but they do work ok). Almost all my DVD's are +R type, and 2x write speed. The latest few have been 4x or 8x now that they are available.
I store my DVD's in a book style case with 4 per page and 200 per case. I don't use jewel cases although I occasionally transport DVD's in the cake-box spindle containers, and I don't print case labels of any kind. Just the DVD stick-on labels. These are the pressure sensative sticky labels, and they peel off of a waxy backing on the sheet. They are completely white. When I peel off a label from a DVD having trouble, the back of the label is colored somewhat by the ink on the front. I would not say there was bleed through, but the labels are thin enough that any printing on the front definitely shows through from the back. So it is possible the colors of the label interfered with the laser read. But I would imagine that using a green or red sharpie would cause similar trouble and nobody has ever reported that.

I do use a special CD/DVD pen for writing the title of the DVD by hand before placing the label in most cases. I don't like to try to remember which disk has which movie and hope that I put the label on the right disk, so I usually write the title on the disk in black ink. This is not a sharpie, and not permanent ink but it is not erasable from the DVD either so not really sure what type of ink that is. But since its sold as a DVD labeling pen, I can't imagine it would cause trouble. It is black ink.

The problem: the DVD's work fine for a few weeks after they are burned and labeled. The problems don't start until later, so its hard to know whats going on. And, if you remove the label, the DVD works just fine. After the label is removed, there is still a lot of adhesive in clumps on the disk, sometimes some bits of paper too, but these don't seem to make any difference. Originally I thought the problem was my DVD writer (NEC 1100A) so I went and purchased a new NEC 2500A and started to recopy all my movies.

Here's another weird symptom: the older movies that have problems can actually be read by my DVD writer if you let the disk sit idle in the drive for at least 15 minutes after you hit an unreadable spot.
So, what I was doing was copying my old burned DVD's to new DVD's using my new burner, and the old DVD's would read if I used DVD Decrypter and allowed it to fail and then sit at the abort/retry/cancel question for at least 15 minutes. Then, when I would hit retry, it would instantly seek to the sector that it couldn't read before, and it would read it. Generally, it would only get a little ways before it would fail out again. Each disk was different, some were much more finicky than others. In 95% of the disks, I was able to copy them to my hard drive after several 15 minute pauses and then re-burn them. Had I known that all I needed to do was peel the label off, I would have saved a lot of time. But I never considered the label as the culprit.
Also, I have some Star Trek TNG DVD's that all have identical labels except for a small bit of text with the disk number. When trying to re-copy these DVD's they all failed in different spots on the disk, and some were much harder to copy than others. Granted the content was different on each DVD, but with almost identical labels, you would think that the DVD's would fail in the same spot on each disk and yet they were all drastically different. The fail spots were very random, some appearing just a few megs into the first VOB file, and some worked fine up until 95% of the disk was read and then it would fail at the end.

FYI, I have occasionally (maybe three times?) applied the label BEFORE burning the disk. I consider this risky since its possible a write error could occur, or power fails or computer hangs, and then you would not only waste a DVD but a label too (Damn Avery labels are expensive!). But I have done it and did not have any trouble with the disk. It burned no differently then an unlabeled disk.

Again, these DVD's work just fine for the first few days after burning and applying the label. There is no way to know there is something wrong. Some of them start to have read troubles after a week, most of them after about 6 weeks, and rarely one or two seem to work forever (well.. over a year anyway). The playback errors manifest as pixelation and missing pixels, generally starting about 50% of the way through the DVD. When they are really bad, I notice the time display on the DVD skip around sometimes very dramatically, and occasionally it will skip to the next chapter or even skip multiple chapters. The time display jumps from 50:00 minutes to 20:00 to 75:00 and back and all over the place on my player when the DVD is really bad. Usually, this leads to a complete lock-up and you can't do anything but eject the DVD. In almost all cases, the menu plays just fine.

So, sorry for the super-long posting, but I thought I should be as thorough as possible. I've seen similar threads where people without this trouble (who don't use labels) assume the media is cheap or the disks are unbalanced or scratched, and I can assure you its nothing that simple or obvious. Also, of the 200 or so DVD's I've burned over the last year, all now are unreadable except one or two. Most of them have only been played once or twice and the DVD's have no scratches or wear of any kind.