Pug Fugley wrote:
> Yes, DVD labels are a bad, bad, bad thing. Avoid at all costs.
>
> A new DVD printer is $99. Buy one.
I must agree with Pug here, though I desperately tried to convince
myself otherwise, against the evidence.
What I have observed is that DVD labels will not show their effects
in most stand-alone players, at least not for a while. I have yet
to observe any problems. However, I have seen playback problems with
labeled DVDs in my laptop, which apparently has a more sensitive
playback DVD drive.
The story goes that the thermal expansions of the DVD itself and the
label are different. This causes just enough warpage of the DVD,
imperceptible to the eye even if you looked at the "hot" DVD, to
throw off the laser as it tries to read the disc. The problem is
more manifest for the data segments at the edge of disc, which I
guess exhibits the most warpage.
I tested this out for myself. I put in a burnt DVD with no label into
my laptop and everything played perfectly. I put a label on that same
DVD, a well centered one, and suddenly there were playback problems
in the later chapters. I needed no more convincing after this. I
thought this was a myth because my standalone player, a Panasonic RV32,
has shown absolutely zero playback problems with labeled DVDs. Most
engineers are of the opinion that even if the disc plays fine initially
it will eventually suffer the effects of slight warping after repeated
playback, simply because the repeatedly heated label continues to tug
the disc ever so slightly until a certain threshold for corruption is
reached. It doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with the label
not being centered properly, something I've also verified for myself.
It is not due to an imbalanced distribution of weight on the surface of
the disc.
I'm not ready to spend a hundred backs on a printer just to label my
DVDs. I've opted to print those tiny "core" labels that run along
the inner annular region that holds no data. Of course, inkjet
printable DVDs would be preferable, but that's for you to decide.
By all means, do NOT believe those who tell you that the adverse effects
of standard paper DVD labels is a myth. For example, the Memorex labels
sold at KMart, most *falsely* advertised as appropriate for CDs and
DVDs, are to be avoided at all costs. They're fine for CDs though,
since CDs aren't so finely tuned with highly compactified data.
Look for an illuminating thread about this on
www.videohelp.com
JB
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