I recommend that you check if there is a firmware update for your optical drive. Firmware updates normally correct problems and improve drive performance, including better media recognition and burn quality.

Please check that you have the latest revision of the LightScribe system software. The LightScribe System Software is regularly updated and allows your drive to recognize new media and optimizes burning parameters for each different type of disc.

You can download the latest version of the Mac LightScribe System Software from the following URL:

http://lightscribe.com/downloadsection/mac/index.aspx?id=813

You may choose to increase the contrast of your labels by trading off some labeling time. Once this is set, it will remain in effect unless you change it, even with new LSS updates.

Although the print times will be longer, we recommend that you use the "Enhanced" mode to give you the best print quality. This may take about half an hour, but you can just let it print in the background and do other things on your computer.

The Enhanced Contrast Utility is now a built-in function of the MAC LightScribe System Software and can be manually activated by the instructions below. This is a little more work than the Windows LSS, but our staff thought it better to offer the ELCU to MAC users in this way rather than delaying its release any longer.

Instructions to activate the higher contrast print mode.

1. Have your Administrator password ready since the script will access system files.
2. Make sure LightScribe System Software version 1.8.15.1 or newer is installed. The script and supporting content are installed with the enabled LSS.
3. Bring up a terminal window. Applications/Utilities/Terminal
4. Type the following onto the command line

sudo /usr/lib/lightscribe/elcu.sh

Note the space after "sudo", and no spaces for the rest of the string.
5. Enter your password when prompted.
6. Choose to activate the higher contrast print setting by typing in "1" (without the quotes).
7. When printing a LightScribe label, ensure that "Best" contrast is selected, and the new higher contrast setting will be in effect.
Tips:

Another method that sometimes helps is to do some pre-processing of the image in a Photo tuning program. By increasing the contrast of the image or converting it to black and white, the higher black density can result in a higher contrast output.

Double Printing:

You can also print the same disc a second time to get a darker contrast.
The trade off of the multiple printing is the slight banding seen in the dark areas. This is a result of the concentric tracks not perfectly aligned with tracks from previous printing. Depending on the amount of overlap between the successive tracks, a banding pattern may be noticed. This may be more apparent on some drives than others due to manufacturing variability.  

There is a difference in appearance of labeled LightScribe DVDs and CDs.

The difference in appearance of labeled LightScribe DVDs and CDs is caused by the difference in how CDs and DVDs are made in general. DVDs have a second plastic layer, which CDs don't have, that creates a kind of "plastic sandwich" around the reflective layer on which data is burned. This additional plastic layer separates the reflective layer from the LightScribe coating on the surface of the disc. When you look at a labeled LightScribe DVD, you are seeing through that additional plastic layer, which creates a three- dimensional effect. In our testing, we have found that many people think the dynamic appearance of LightScribe-labeled DVDs is especially suited to media which store videos and creative content. You may also see a slight difference in contrast between different brands.

Hello Hernik,

Where did you get the driver from? I am using the driver for MAC from the www.lightscribe.com website but my external DVD Writer LG GP08LU11 works only to burn DVD, but when I want to write on the Lightscribe side, it says that "media is not recognized" although I am using HP LightScribe DVDs.

Could you please share with the rest of us what did you do to make it work?

Thanks,

Dan