AfterDawn: Glossary

LabelFlash is a relatively new technology that takes notes from a similar technology introduced by Yamaha called DiscT@2. What these technologies do is enable some DVD burners to burn images and labels directly onto the disc for easier cataloging. Introduced in December 2005 by NEC it uses Yamaha's patent and is similar to the LightScribe technology introduced by Hewlett-Packard.

LabelFlash has some of the following features and drawbacks:

• 1000 dpi resolution
• Up to 256 colors on the image being burned
• Four color monochromatic usage in development
• Burn times depend on the image being produced and can take up to at least seven minutes
• Requires specialized media that is currently double the price of standard DVD media
• Discs use 0.6mm thick top coating to avoid fading
• Discs are blue in color on the top to provide greater contrast to the image
• DiskT@2 is a part of Labelflash technology so burning on bottom side (data side) of disc area which is not used by data is possible with any DVD ±R media

Nero 7.0.2.8 and newer utilize support for this technology, but only if you purchase a compatible drive that comes bundled with the Nero 7 Premium package. North American consumers are not treated with LabelFlash software if they purchase Nero 7 Ultra even though the exact counterpart is available across Europe. The difference between the Platinum and Ultra versions of Nero is simply the name (and the fact that it doesn't include LabelFlash in Ultra).

The NEC ND-3550A, ND-3551A, ND-4550A, ND-4551A all share the same hardware but only the ND-3551A and ND-4551A are sold with Labelflash software. Additionally, NEC sold the ND-4571A DVD burning Labelflash drive and also the Sony NEC Optiarc drives AD-7173, AD-7543, AD-7633 and AD-7913 supporting Labelflash writing. There are third party developers who have produced a Firmware flash for many popular drives that enable LabelFlash capabilities. The last known and most widely used aftermarket firmware developer is a group by the name of The Liggy and Dee team.

Macintosh support of this technology is only known currently to run via Windows XP in a virtual machine within the Mac.