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rosssanford · Mar 31, 2005, 10:13 AM

I "printed" my first CD-R with my new LaCie d2 DVD�RW with LightScribe (http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10122)and it works great! Lightscribe Software for Mac is easy to use, but I wish it was integrated with iTunes and iPhoto (maybe in an updated release?) CD label took +/-30 minutes to "print" in "high quality" mode. [PC "printing" software is highly integrated with Roxio Easy Media Creator and takes the same amount of time.]

vasu · Mar 31, 2005, 11:51 AM

how'd you get yours already, the website says it's not shipping until mid april...

rosssanford · Apr 1, 2005, 01:28 AM

I ordered it on Jan. 12th. They just got them at Lacie last week.

Chito · Apr 1, 2005, 09:28 AM

Has anyone seen lightscribe DVD media yet?

tooki · Apr 1, 2005, 10:14 AM

I just saw it on the shelf at Best Buy or CompUSA (I was at both the same day so I don't remember which store it was).

tooki

Chito · Apr 1, 2005, 01:35 PM

thanks tooki. I wanna see how much they're going to cost before I buy a lightscribe drive.....

jersey · Apr 5, 2005, 11:29 AM

I have been looking at that drive, but still a bit hesitant. I have been sending out tons of video submissions and I hate the print on media, and the sticker labels are even worse, and am looking for a better alternative.

Is the image quality "professional"? or does it look amateurish?

possibly post some pics?

thanks,

-j

Briareus · Apr 7, 2005, 01:29 AM

another vote for pics of the discs

I've been waiting for word on these drives as a potential upgrade to the stock Pioneer DVR-106 in my G5. Any word on bootablity, iTunes/iDVD/Finder compatibility, etc.?

Looks like the internal version is $119 list price, so I'm about ready to buy after hearing hopefully positive comments.

rosssanford · Apr 8, 2005, 11:10 AM

The "look" is as professional as the artwork you use. Here are some scans of my initial discs: http://homepage.mac.com/rosssanford/lightscribe/ (I have only used album artwork so far, but the results are really nice.) The stock art work that comes with the software is not great, and the text handling is not as powerful as Printshop or Illustrator, but in general I have had no problems importing any images from other programs.

vasu · Apr 9, 2005, 04:27 PM

how long did a burn like that take?

rosssanford · Apr 9, 2005, 05:04 PM

On a G5 (SP 1.8) it takes +/-25 minutes. I only have burned these via Firewire, but I do not think USB 2.0 speeds things up.

vasu · Apr 10, 2005, 02:35 AM

that's not too bad. i read somewhere that a full image lightscrube etching takes 45 minutes

-vasu

sworthy · Apr 10, 2005, 04:22 AM

That looks really good actually!

I wonder how long it will be before we can do this in color?

jersey · Apr 10, 2005, 09:12 AM

those look really good.

I read that you can only get cds......no dvds yet.

and of course i want only dvd.

can anyone confirm or verify dvds are or are not available? that is the deciding factor.

and can the benq lightscribe be patched to work on a mac? it's considerably cheaper. new egg had it for 85.00 last week.

-j

AU_student_iceBook · Apr 10, 2005, 09:54 AM

Originally posted by jersey:
I read that you can only get cds......no dvds yet.

I found some media for them. It is a little more than $2/disc. Worth it for what I do.

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10407

Chito · Apr 11, 2005, 07:42 AM

Comp USA has a ten pak for $17.99.

jersey · Apr 11, 2005, 08:47 AM

i'll have to check comp usa out here in the ole' jersey.

chito: hows akron these days? got my undergrad at the u of a , and i moved from there to here.

Chito · Apr 11, 2005, 10:28 AM

Akron's probably about the same as any other mid size city. There's actually some life downtown since they built the new ballpark. Quite a bar district down there now. We need an Apple Store closer than Cleveland though. On second thought if we had one closer I probably wouldn't even have money to eat!

Too Artificial · Apr 14, 2005, 04:00 PM

Oh sweet, I've been waiting for these to start shipping. Time to spend some money.

Too Artificial · Apr 22, 2005, 10:48 PM

Anyone else get one of these and care to share your experience?

rosssanford · Apr 23, 2005, 05:04 PM

After three weeks: no problems with the Lightscribe "printing" or normal burning (CDs/DVDs), but I can not get the Finder/iTunes/iPhoto to recognize 8.5GB/DL DVDs.

jersey · Apr 24, 2005, 11:32 AM

i'm ordering one this week.....so i'll post some junk sometime the following weeek.

Too Artificial · Apr 24, 2005, 05:58 PM

Thanks guys. Ross, have you tried using iDVD with the drive? Just curious how well it works.

rosssanford · Apr 25, 2005, 10:27 AM

Doesn't iDVD only work with internal SuperDrives?

Too Artificial · Apr 25, 2005, 11:36 AM

Yeah, you are right, sorry. But I *think* in the latest iDVD you can save your project as a disc image file and then use something like Toast to burn it to disc. I'll have to investigate more. Thanks for the reply. Will let you know if I find anything good.

rosssanford · Apr 25, 2005, 01:10 PM

You are right: (from http://www.apple.com/ilife/idvd/featureoverview.html)

"iDVD even has a new option for those occasions when you�re between media (i.e., you haven�t made it to the store) or you�re authoring a DVD on a system without a SuperDrive. The solution? Save your project as a fully-encoded Disk Image. Not only can you burn finished projects to disc more quickly once you�re back at your SuperDrive-equipped system (after all, they�ve already been encoded, so you just have to drag the Image to a blank DVD), but Disk Images make great read-only archives."

I guess then I could use Toast or Disk Utility to burn the image.

jersey · Apr 25, 2005, 05:14 PM

you may be able to burn directly from idvd to the drive via patchburn.

i hope it doesnt give me issues with dvd studio pro.

-j

tooki · Apr 25, 2005, 05:29 PM

iDVD and DVDSP can both save disc images, which you can burn with either Toast or Disk Utility. Either one should work with just about any drive, even those not directly supported by iDVD. Note that it also doesn't take any more time, since both iDVD and DVDSP create a disc image when they burn directly -- you just don't see it.

tooki

Deserttoad · Apr 28, 2005, 11:19 PM

I've burned a few labels now with lightscribe, but I need some help.

One label I made on a CD-R came out perfect, awesome!

So then I made a DVD and made a label on a DVD-R that I bought from LaCie (verbatim), and the image AND the text look blurry. At first I thought I didn't use a good photo, but now I'm sure I did. And at any rate, the text looks blurry too, and it didn't on my CD.

Any help appreciated,

DT

I'm running a G4 with 1.5gz upgrade card, 768 ram, OS 10.3.9

rosssanford · Apr 29, 2005, 08:15 AM

I have not "printed" any DVDs yet.

AU_student_iceBook · May 4, 2005, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by rosssanford

I have not "printed" any DVDs yet.

I am having all kind of problems printing discs. I am calling LaCie tomorrow. I will let you guys know what I find.

rosssanford · May 4, 2005, 06:57 AM

Are you running Tiger? Lightscribe software does not work with the new OS. They expect an update in the next couple of weeks.

AU_student_iceBook · May 4, 2005, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by rosssanford

Are you running Tiger? Lightscribe software does not work with the new OS. They expect an update in the next couple of weeks.

Dang. That is it. Where did you read that?

rosssanford · May 4, 2005, 12:00 PM

Got an email from Lacie tech support.

jersey · May 4, 2005, 12:41 PM

damn......i just installed tiger and got my drive last night, but not getting a case until later this week.

well....i guess it will all have to wait for the update.

VirtualJim · May 4, 2005, 01:10 PM

I just got the Lacie d2 DVD+-RW DL with LIghtscribe last week. And I decided (wisely I guess) to test it with all supported media type...

Has anyone else tried ERASING and reusing a DVD+RW disc with this drive? I can burn a DVD+RW once, and Toast or Disc Utility on my iBook *ACT* like they erase the disc, but the disk is forever after unwritable, even though the data is blown away. I have used Toast, Finder, Disc Utility, etc.
I can erase and reuse DVD-RW media just fine. I can burn DVD+RW - just not erase it. DVD-R and DVD+R work too. I have yet to get in DVD+R DL media to test that.

Lacie tech support has given me a big run around. The first person I spoke with said that he knew of no issues and I should return the drive. Then I got an email from their tech support saying that the drive firmware table was missing some entries for certain media types, and could I please email them a list of all media I had used, indicating which ones I had issues with. After that I got a reply from some novice at Lacie who told me how to use Toast to erase a disc! Then I got a 4th contact from them with an RMA for the drive.

I personally suspect a firmware issue. But, if someone else has been able to erase and then rewrite a DVD+RW, then obviously I have a bad laser or something, and do need to ship the drive off.

Thanks!

Jim

jtarheel · May 5, 2005, 11:42 AM

I did have a problem, trying to print to disc. When I did a Preview, it just showed a grey ring. When I printed to the printer, it worked fine. So, I tried to print to the disc and it spit the disc back out with a message that there was only white pixels.

I played around a little more, trying to find any directions that might help, then I tried to change the contrast level from Best to Normal. Then Preview showed the image. I tried switching back to Best, that worked too. I went ahead and printed to the disc. Sorry, I didn't check on how long it took to print. Came out looking pretty good, nice grey tones. This was the sample CD that LaCie had enclosed. Maybe try to get the video of my Granddaughter's birthday to put on the sample DVD, eh?

LaCie DL d2 DVDRW USB2&FW
Mac OS X 10.4
PowerMac G5 dual 2.5 GHz

AU_student_iceBook · May 5, 2005, 11:05 PM

You had better luck than me. I can't get anything to print like I have laid out. I will just wait for the update.

LaCie DVD�RW Internal Drive with LightScribe 16x
OSX 10.4
G5 Dual 2.0

Originally Posted by jtarheel

I did have a problem, trying to print to disc. When I did a Preview, it just showed a grey ring. When I printed to the printer, it worked fine. So, I tried to print to the disc and it spit the disc back out with a message that there was only white pixels.

I played around a little more, trying to find any directions that might help, then I tried to change the contrast level from Best to Normal. Then Preview showed the image. I tried switching back to Best, that worked too. I went ahead and printed to the disc. Sorry, I didn't check on how long it took to print. Came out looking pretty good, nice grey tones. This was the sample CD that LaCie had enclosed. Maybe try to get the video of my Granddaughter's birthday to put on the sample DVD, eh?

LaCie DL d2 DVDRW USB2&FW
Mac OS X 10.4
PowerMac G5 dual 2.5 GHz

jersey · May 7, 2005, 02:00 PM

i got my case last night, put the drive in it, and it wont show w/fw on usb2. argh.....i hate using the card with my powerbook.

any suggestions.....?

i dont think it's a tiger thing.

heres the case: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CDFWCASE-SIL

jersey · May 7, 2005, 08:20 PM

oh....and it will burn directly from DVDSP to the lacie unit. burned a dic in 10 minutes.

AU_student_iceBook · May 8, 2005, 05:10 PM

I'm not sure what problem you are having. Is it not recognized in Finder and iTunes?

There is software (drivers) that you have to install for it on the DVD utilities v.6.4 that it came with.

Originally Posted by jersey

i got my case last night, put the drive in it, and it wont show w/fw on usb2. argh.....i hate using the card with my powerbook.

any suggestions.....?

i dont think it's a tiger thing.

heres the case: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CDFWCASE-SIL

jersey · May 8, 2005, 07:55 PM

yeah its odd.....

i installed the software, but maybe i'll give it another go.....

however, i can daisy chain my 2 external hd's through it, but it wont show in toast or any app via fw. system profiler reads it as an "unknown device"

AU_student_iceBook · May 8, 2005, 11:10 PM

You probably have a bigger problem than drivers.

System profiler should be able to see it even when you haven't installed the drivers. What's weird is you shouldn't have been able to burn in DVDSP 2.

Have you tried hooking it up internally?

Originally Posted by jersey

yeah its odd.....

i installed the software, but maybe i'll give it another go.....

however, i can daisy chain my 2 external hd's through it, but it wont show in toast or any app via fw. system profiler reads it as an "unknown device"

jersey · May 8, 2005, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by AU_student_iceBook

You probably have a bigger problem than drivers.

System profiler should be able to see it even when you haven't installed the drivers. What's weird is you shouldn't have been able to burn in DVDSP 2.

Have you tried hooking it up internally?

i burned via usb 2.

no internal.......on a pb.

i pretty sure the case is f'ed.......however it's odd that i can daisy chain my other drive through it.

Deserttoad · May 9, 2005, 12:12 PM

I had problems getting my computer to recognize my burner via firewire. It would show in the profiler, but say burning not supported. After a couple calls to laCie they had me download and install the new drivers from their website - no good. What I didn't know is they were driver on the Toast CD included, installed from there now my burning is vendor supported.

But I can't burn an audio cd using Toast, it gives strange errors, so I burn them from Itunes.

Also, has anyone burned a Lightscribe label on a DVD yet? Last I tried it didn't look very good.

thanks,

DT

Originally Posted by jersey

i burned via usb 2.

no internal.......on a pb.

i pretty sure the case is f'ed.......however it's odd that i can daisy chain my other drive through it.

AU_student_iceBook · May 9, 2005, 07:46 PM

Yep. It doesn't work in Tiger. They will be putting out a update in the next couple of weeks.

Originally Posted by Deserttoad

...
Also, has anyone burned a Lightscribe label on a DVD yet? Last I tried it didn't look very good.
thanks,
DT

Deserttoad · May 9, 2005, 10:05 PM

I'm using 10.3.9 - the cd-r labels I burned are perfectly clear and look great, but when I tried to burn a dvd+r label with several different photos and text, none of it turned out very nice, it's all very blurry.

DT

MallyMal · May 11, 2005, 12:45 AM

Looks like the software has been updated. Click Here

AU_student_iceBook · May 11, 2005, 08:26 AM

Your link didn't work for me.

AU_student_iceBook · May 11, 2005, 08:27 AM

AH:

Here it is:
http://www.macupdate.com/download.ph...Update.dmg.zip