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Choosing a Printer for DVD printing
Was not sure where to post this…
Hello
I am doing a few different things right now… I shoot Sunday morning services for a local church. I shoot video depositions for a law firm- yes I work for a law firm and a church- God does forgive the sinner afterall. And then I do weddings/events as time permits. I have been ordering DVDs one at a time with Cafe Press and it just seems un-necessary. Can someone give me a few options for a printer that can do direct printing on the DVD disc (I am not interested in printing labels and putting those on separate- I want it to be more professional than that). I am not even sure what these types of printers are called and what type of DVDs I will need. I did a few google searches, but would like to hear from someone who is actually using a particular printer with good results.
thanks for your time
jared -
10 Replies
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That’s an easy one… What you need is any of the Epson inkjet models that print on disc media. They are all excellent, even the least expensive one you can find. I have several R280s myself, that have been great investments. They cost only $56. I’m not sure what the newer models are, but you can just go online to the Epson site and you can’t miss ’em.
Inkjet printable white media is the basic, but for a few cents more you can get silver inkjet media, which gives your printed discs a very cool holographic look.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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We use Epson Artisan series printers. Use the heck out of them.
Cheap too. The print quality looks great.
Replace em every couple years.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Chris,
I purchased the Epson Artisan for direct to disk printing. I don’t know why, but my colors look terrible when I print to glossy photo paper and washed out on disks. What quality and color setting settings do you use for your printer?
Cody Walters
Mac Pro 2.26GHz 8 Core Xeon
16 GB 1066 MHz DDR3
Final Cut Studio 3
Panasonic HVX-200 -
I don’t use the Artisan 700 for printing on paper. Only Discs. And occasionally photo paper I guess. It looks good.
I always use the highest/best settings.Are you printing on “inkjet printable” discs?
Have you tried increasing saturation on discs printing?
Also, always use print quality pix and logos when making disc templates.
300dpi.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Hi Jared,
I print about 500 – 800 DVDs at the end of every year. Each job is only about 30-50 discs so I’m in a similar situation where I need to print them quickly and the run is far too small to outsource. I used an Epson R800 and an R210 or 310 (I think) for a few years which I was very happy with.
A few years ago I switched to a Canon MP600R because it printed the discs faster, but there was a nasty surprise which I hadn’t thought of. While each disc is quicker to print, you only have about a 3 second window to change the disc over before the printer goes off on some sort of self cleaning/resetting procedure which takes anywhere from 20 – 40 seconds. Sometimes I can just manage the changeover in the 3 seconds, but usually I miss it so most of my DVDs now take more than twice as long as the Epsons did. It might have just been that model but it’s definitely something to check before you buy a disc printer.
I found all of these printers had pretty good print quality for discs, however I’ve found that they become less reliable with their disc printing after a while. Eventually they start spitting discs back out unprinted or worse still, printing the disc, spitting it out, then sucking it back in and printing on it again. I guess they just aren’t built to handle thousands of discs. I tend to buy a new one every two to three years, although newer models which you’d probably be looking at may be more reliable.
I’m buying a robotic autoprinter at the end of this year which you might want to look into, although it might be overkill for your needs depending on what sort of volumes you’re needing.
Hope some of this might be helpful.
Cheers,
Dan -
If you just need a few at a time, then any Epson that handles the media.
If you need to print 50 to 100 or more at a time, can’t recommend the Microboards PF-3 enough. We purchased one at the end of the last year and have already run over 4000 DVDs through that machine. Incredible image and we can stack up to 100 discs at a time in the hopper. Can print about 250 to 400 discs in an 8 hour day depending on the quality and amount of ink.
Works great on Mac and Windows.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative MediaRegister now for our Open House March 5
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looking at the artisan 810 or the artisan a50
thanks for the help guys!
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I have a Primera BravoPro Xi. You can stack 50 discs on each side and just set it going. Very reliable (biggest problem is DVDs sticking together while they are being loaded), the printing SW isn’t very Mac-like (but the label maker is excellent) but it’s pretty solid, too. Not cheap, but we can do biggish runs, whereas our little Canon was struggling.
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Yea, I’m printing on inkjet printable DVDs. I’ll play around with the settings and experiment with the saturation and brightness of the image.
Thanks.
Cody Walters
Mac Pro 2.26GHz 8 Core Xeon
16 GB 1066 MHz DDR3
Final Cut Studio 3
Panasonic HVX-200 -
Right softwear is as well important. I am using Ronyasoft: https://www.ronyasoft.com/products/cd-dvd-label-maker/ . What about you?
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