Is there any Dual Layer Lightscribe burners?

[leglez]

I am wanting to get a dual layer drive and a lightscribe and dont want to buy 2 drives so I was wondering is there one drive that combines both?

 

[tweekah]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101006

 

[j511180]

I bought this Samsung drive about a month ago...I still haven't burned anything with it yet I hope it works :laugh:

 

[corkyg]

Yes. I have one. The HP DVD740. External, USB 2. It does a good job - I use it with my laptop.

 

[Ken90630]

I know this doesn't answer your question exactly, but you might consider getting an NEC ND-4551A, which does LabelFlash instead of Lightscribe. LabelFlash is a newer labeling technology that enables you to burn in blue and silver colors as opposed to just the brown print on gold background of Lightscribe. The first two linked articles on this page might interest you.

AFAIK, the ND-4551A is the only non-OEM drive that offers LabelFlash at the moment. And IIRC, there's only one brand of optical disks -- Fuji, I think -- that work with it. Nevertheless, if you want a little more color with your laser-burned labels, I think LabelFlash disks look better than Lightscribe. Just FYI.

Edited to correct an inaccuracy pointed out to me by Corky in his post below.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: tweekah
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101006

I have the previous model, works great. Just remember to Lightscribe the disc twice for the best image (makes it darker on the second pass & automatically lines the image up for the second burn).

 

[corkyg]

To be accurate, Lightscribe does not burn black and white. It is a dark brown on a gold background. And, text can be enlarged and emboldened - makes them very readable on the first pass. It is slow. Burning twice would be twice as slow.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: corkyg
To be accurate, Lightscribe does not burn black and white. It is a dark brown on a gold background. And, text can be enlarged and emboldened - makes them very readable on the first pass. It is slow. Burning twice would be twice as slow.

Fair enough. I was just goin' by what I've read in other posts on this site (and others), as I don't own a Lightscribe burner myself (nor have I seen any burned disks in person). So in this case I'll put the blame on others for spreading misinformation.

I stand corrected though, so thanks. :thumbsup:

 

[ND40oz]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
I know this doesn't answer your question exactly, but you might consider getting an NEC ND-4551A, which does LabelFlash instead of Lightscribe. LabelFlash is a newer labeling technology that enables you to burn in blue and silver colors as opposed to just the black & white of Lightscribe. The first two linked articles on this page might interest you.

AFAIK, the ND-4551A is the only non-OEM drive that offers LabelFlash at the moment. And IIRC, there's only one brand of optical disks -- Fuji, I think -- that work with it. Nevertheless, if you want at least some color with your laser-burned labels, I think LabelFlash disks look better than Lightscribe. Just FYI.

I'd just buy the 3550 and flash it to a 4551, that's what I did with mine. The 3550/3551/4550/4551 all use the exact same hardware and just vary by firmware. There's a guide floating around somewhere with how to do it.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: ND40oz

Originally posted by: Ken90630
I know this doesn't answer your question exactly, but you might consider getting an NEC ND-4551A, which does LabelFlash instead of Lightscribe. LabelFlash is a newer labeling technology that enables you to burn in blue and silver colors as opposed to just the black & white of Lightscribe. The first two linked articles on this page might interest you.

AFAIK, the ND-4551A is the only non-OEM drive that offers LabelFlash at the moment. And IIRC, there's only one brand of optical disks -- Fuji, I think -- that work with it. Nevertheless, if you want at least some color with your laser-burned labels, I think LabelFlash disks look better than Lightscribe. Just FYI.

I'd just buy the 3550 and flash it to a 4551, that's what I did with mine. The 3550/3551/4550/4551 all use the exact same hardware and just vary by firmware. There's a guide floating around somewhere with how to do it.

Do you happen to know if the 3550 would then be able to burn/read DVD-RAM disks at 5X after flashing to the new firmware? And would it also pick up the 4551's ability to bitset DVD +R to the DVD ROM booktype (which the 3550 currently doesn't, if I'm not mistaken)? 'Cuz that would be .

 

[mechBgon]

There'll reportedly be other "base" colors of LightScribe media eventually, so the gold-tone thing may just be the first of several

http://www.verbatim.com.sg/corporate/press_releases.cfm?ID=1049

In addition to the current gold color, the new coating technology used on Verbatim?s next-generation LightScribe CD and DVD media will enable the discs to be produced with vibrant new jewel-toned background colors such as yellow, green and orange.

That sounds fun

 

[Kaido]

Take a look at my thread from last November for more info on Lightscribe:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1727764&enterthread=y

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
There'll reportedly be other "base" colors of LightScribe media eventually, so the gold-tone thing may just be the first of several

http://www.verbatim.com.sg/corporate/press_releases.cfm?ID=1049

In addition to the current gold color, the new coating technology used on Verbatim?s next-generation LightScribe CD and DVD media will enable the discs to be produced with vibrant new jewel-toned background colors such as yellow, green and orange.

That sounds fun

Yeah, sounds good to me.

According to that article, Verbatim's new disks will be "Version 1.2." And it said they were expected to be released in Q2, which we're in now, so maybe we should start seeing them anytime now?

Hopefully CDRInfo or CDFreaks will do some test reports with these disks with some of the most popular Lightscribe-capable burners so we can know how well they perform.

BTW, anyone know if there's a list somewhere [with a link maybe ] of all current Lightscribe-capable burners? (I'm referring to non-OEM drives here.)

 

[ND40oz]

Originally posted by: Ken90630

Originally posted by: ND40oz

Originally posted by: Ken90630
I know this doesn't answer your question exactly, but you might consider getting an NEC ND-4551A, which does LabelFlash instead of Lightscribe. LabelFlash is a newer labeling technology that enables you to burn in blue and silver colors as opposed to just the black & white of Lightscribe. The first two linked articles on this page might interest you.

AFAIK, the ND-4551A is the only non-OEM drive that offers LabelFlash at the moment. And IIRC, there's only one brand of optical disks -- Fuji, I think -- that work with it. Nevertheless, if you want at least some color with your laser-burned labels, I think LabelFlash disks look better than Lightscribe. Just FYI.

I'd just buy the 3550 and flash it to a 4551, that's what I did with mine. The 3550/3551/4550/4551 all use the exact same hardware and just vary by firmware. There's a guide floating around somewhere with how to do it.

Do you happen to know if the 3550 would then be able to burn/read DVD-RAM disks at 5X after flashing to the new firmware? And would it also pick up the 4551's ability to bitset DVD +R to the DVD ROM booktype (which the 3550 currently doesn't, if I'm not mistaken)? 'Cuz that would be .

Yes it does, when you use Nero to check your drive specs, you now have the ability to read and write DVD-RAM at 5x. I haven't checked the bitset DVD+R setting. It literally makes your DVD burner a 4551. When I go into device manager, it lists it as a NEC 4551, same thing in the bios.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: ND40oz

Originally posted by: Ken90630

Originally posted by: ND40oz

Originally posted by: Ken90630
I know this doesn't answer your question exactly, but you might consider getting an NEC ND-4551A, which does LabelFlash instead of Lightscribe. LabelFlash is a newer labeling technology that enables you to burn in blue and silver colors as opposed to just the black & white of Lightscribe. The first two linked articles on this page might interest you.

AFAIK, the ND-4551A is the only non-OEM drive that offers LabelFlash at the moment. And IIRC, there's only one brand of optical disks -- Fuji, I think -- that work with it. Nevertheless, if you want at least some color with your laser-burned labels, I think LabelFlash disks look better than Lightscribe. Just FYI.

I'd just buy the 3550 and flash it to a 4551, that's what I did with mine. The 3550/3551/4550/4551 all use the exact same hardware and just vary by firmware. There's a guide floating around somewhere with how to do it.

Do you happen to know if the 3550 would then be able to burn/read DVD-RAM disks at 5X after flashing to the new firmware? And would it also pick up the 4551's ability to bitset DVD +R to the DVD ROM booktype (which the 3550 currently doesn't, if I'm not mistaken)? 'Cuz that would be .

Yes it does, when you use Nero to check your drive specs, you now have the ability to read and write DVD-RAM at 5x. I haven't checked the bitset DVD+R setting. It literally makes your DVD burner a 4551. When I go into device manager, it lists it as a NEC 4551, same thing in the bios.

Cool. And since I did my earlier posting, I've noticed that the 4551 seems to be hard to find here in the U.S. I can't find any vendor selling it (although I admittedly didn't spend a great deal of time scouring the Web). Maybe it's just available overseas right now?

Anywho, thanks for the tip re flashing the firmware. No need for a 4551 if you can essentially make a 3550 into a 4551 by doing that. :thumbsup: