Labelflash

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A Labelflash disc engraved with an image of the planet Jupiter. LabelFlash.jpg
A Labelflash disc engraved with an image of the planet Jupiter.

Labelflash (sometimes written LabelFlash) is a technology which allows users to burn custom designs or images onto proprietary DVD media first announced in October 2005 as a collaboration between Yamaha and Fujifilm. [1] [2] While Yamaha developed the optical drives, Fujifilm manufactured the proprietary Labelflash optical discs. [3] NEC manufactured the first Labelflash compatible drive, the ND4551, [4] which was released in December 2005. [5]

Contents

Burning Labelflash media is supported by Nero Burning ROM version 7 and newer. [6] Yamaha partnered with Toshiba [7] and Gateway [8] to provide Labelflash as a feature in computers made by those companies.

Production of Labelflash media was halted on December 22, 2016. [9] Labelflash was officially discontinued in 2017. [10]

Technical details

In Labelflash, the standard recording head of an optical drive is repurposed to burn images onto a layer of dye made for this purpose on the top of proprietary Labelflash optical media. [11] The dye is 0.6mm below the surface so as to protect it from the elements. [10] [12]

The resolution is adjustable between 300 and 1800 dpi (dots per inch). Up to 256 monochromatic shades can be used in the image. [4] The labeling process takes 7 minutes at the lowest resolution and a half hour at the highest. [4] Labelflash is backwards compatible with Yamaha's earlier DiscT@2 technology—this allows Labelflash-compatible optical drives to engrave onto the data side of discs as well.

According to Yamaha, a new iteration of Labelflash which supported four color printing was in the works [11] —however, as Labelflash support was discontinued in 2017, [10] this never came to fruition.

Reception

The technology is often compared with Hewlett-Packard's LightScribe, released one year earlier. After its release, Labelflash was not available in the United States until 2007, [12] giving HP a three-year head start in the US market. Furthermore, worldwide, proprietary Labelflash optical media cost double that of comparable LightScribe media, [10] at US$2.40 per disc, [13] [14] which Tom's Hardware called an "exorbitant" price that made printing "painful" as test prints were not worth doing. [13] Commenting on the price, Engadget 's Marc Perton said he'd "stick with [his] Sharpie for now." [15]

Reviewers, such as Gordon Laing for Personal Computer World , also noted that when compared to LightScribe, Labelflash images looked more "unnatural" and less "vibrant". [14]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Mueller, Scott (2013-03-07). Upgrading and Repairing PCs: Upgrading and Repairing_c21. Que Publishing. ISBN   9780133105360.
  2. ↑ Peters, Mark (2005-10-24). "FujiFilm and Yamaha LabelFlash Technology". LetsGoDigital. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  3. ↑ "YAMAHA, FUJIFILM DEVELOP LASER TECHNOLOGY TO ILLUSTRATE DVD." AsiaPulse News, 20 Oct. 2005. General OneFile. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 "Integrator Trade Only - Hardware - DVD rewriter - NEC ND4551. Fast DVD rewriter with built-in label writer. Rating: 5 out of 5." Computer Reseller News [UK], 23 Jan. 2006, p. 38. General OneFile. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
  5. ↑ "First Look: Labelflash™ - Myce.com". Myce.com. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  6. ↑ 7.0.2.8 Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "First Looks: Bargain Laptop Colossus". PC Magazine. 2007-10-02. p. 30.
  8. ↑ "First Looks Hardware: Junior 3D Gaming Rig". PC Magazine. 2008-05-01. p. 36.
  9. ↑ "News". The Official Website of Labelflash™. Yamaha, Inc. 2016-12-22. Archived from the original on 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
  10. 1 2 3 4 East III, Raymond (2009-07-01). "LightScribe VS. Labelflash: A Disc Labeling Cold War". Belight. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  11. 1 2 Kubo, Hiroshi; Shibata, Michihiro; et al. (June 2007). "New Laser Labeling Technology for Recordable Digital Versatile Disc". Japanese Journal of Applied Physics. 46 (6B): 3926–3927. Bibcode:2007JaJAP..46.3926K. doi:10.1143/JJAP.46.3926. S2CID   120501504 – via ResearchGate.
  12. 1 2 "Fujifilm Rolls Out Labelflash DVD Media to U.S. Market" Wireless News, 13 June 2007. General OneFile. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
  13. 1 2 Moersch, Siggy (2006-02-14). "Labelflash vs LightScribe DVD/CD Labeling". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  14. 1 2 Laing, Gordon (2006-05-01). "Add style with flash labels". Personal Computer World. pp.  51, 124. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  15. ↑ Perton, Marc (2006-02-14). "LabelFlash vs. LightScribe: Tom's goes for the burn". Engadget. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
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