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]

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 costed 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]