Digital Home Thoughts: The Current State of LightScribe Technology

If you've read my HP dvd640 LightScribe review, you'll know that I'm a big fan of this technology. I just used it yesterday to burn a DVD and CD of a friend's concert, and because he's moving to another city this will make a good keepsake for him. Printing labels would have been cheesy - LightScribe make it look good. PC World has an article about the current state of LightScribe technology, and where it's headed. It's headed into the realm of faster burns, though I found it interesting that the burn speed is primarily limited by the strength of the laser. Since the strength of the laser isn't easy to change, they're opting to change the media:

"Media with the new coating is expected to perform about 50 percent faster than the current media. According to Henscheid, a detailed, high-contrast, full-disc label might take about 30 minutes to create today; with the new coating, you might see a savings of as much as a third, taking that time down to 20 minutes. It all depends upon the drive and the drive's laser characteristics; and it is also affected by the design of the label."

Full colour LightScribing isn't yet on the table, but the article talks about discs with different colour fronts, thus giving you different monochromatic choices. Nice. Bring it on! I wish she would have asked why the quality of a DVD LightScribe burn is so poor though. :?