Are water-shield discs necessary?

[SilverBlade]

For printable DVD discs, are water-shield discs necessary? or will non-watershield discs be just as good?

[nwo]

Only if you work in the sea!

[vico1]

For printable DVD discs, are water-shield discs necessary? or will non-watershield discs be just as good?

I've used Plaid® Patricia Nimocks Clear Acrylic Sealer spray, (Gloss)
on regular printable media.
Think I picked them up at Walmart, Arts & Crafts section.

Doesn't smell very nice (use in well ventilated area) but makes a good drip-shield.
(Two very light sprays on a flat surface will do it...play only after dry)

I know some will naysay the use of an acrylic sealer spray on printable media...
But I haven't noticed any degradation of the media or disc play with it's use.

[Exousia]

They are not absolutely necessary however, apart from being water resistant, they are are very much better than standard inkjet printable discs. The reason for this is that they have a high gloss finish, created by using nanontechnology. When they are printed, the ink is dry immediately and the finished product looks as good - and in some cases better - than commercially produced discs. The difference is well worth the small extra cost and the final result is much better than attempting to spray regular discs with any kind of protectact to seal them. The best quality Taiyu Yuden discs also have a 100 year data rating , thus ensuring your discs will still work just fine during your lifetime and probably beyond.

[p_l]

I loves my glossy TYs. They look great.

[vico1]

The difference is well worth the small extra cost and the final result is much better than attempting to spray regular discs with any kind of protectact to seal them.

I realize "small extra cost" is a relative term, But:

Taiyo Yuden 16X Water Shield White Inkjet Hub Printable DVD-R Media (100) $66.99
Taiyo Yuden Premium Line 16X DVD-R Media White Inkjet Hub Printable (100) $41.99

That is, a $25 difference.

Source: Meritline
http://www.meritline.com/taiyo-yuden-16x-dvd-r-water-shield-white-inkjet-printable.html
http://www.meritline.com/taiyo-yuden-16x-dvd-r-media-white-inkjet-hub-printable.html

[Exousia]

You are absolutely correct. TY does have an 8X version though and that is what I have been using. I think you will find the price difference is closer to "small extra cost." Ultimately, you get what you pay for.

[ultraman36]

For printable DVD discs, are water-shield discs necessary? or will non-watershield discs be just as good?

Ony you can determine if they are necessary for your use. I dont mind paying the extra money as i lend my dvd out and i dont want them to comeback with smears on them. I like the glossy look (even thought there were a couple of dvd i printed where the matte finish waterproof dvds did look a little better because the the bright white surface). I use to spray my disks but now i prefer not to. Everybody will not have a need for them so for some they are useless. Yes you can get quality dvds where you will get more at a cheaper price but like anything it personal preference.

[Sweetow]

We tried printing on the watershield discs, and the blacks come out kinda dark teal. Overall there is a green tint. We printed on both a Microboards PF-2 and a Primera Bravo

Stu Sweetow
AV Consultants

[Exousia]

I print the discs using an Epson Stylus Photo R800 and the results are absolutely superb! The colors are accurate and dense with excellent resolution for both graphics and text.

I use the supplied EpsonCD software with the media type set to premium surface.

[SCDVD]

We tried printing on the watershield discs, and the blacks come out kinda dark teal. Overall there is a green tint. We printed on both a Microboards PF-2 and a Primera Bravo

Stu Sweetow
AV Consultants

You may have something else going on with your file or something. My company has a PF-2 and some Epson 220's and 260's and we haven't observed any color shifts. The black also prints completely black with no hint of any other color in it. On the Bravo, you need to be sure your set the printer driver to the "Print black with black cartridge setting". IF you don't have it set to this, black will actually be a CMY composite color which never is pure black.

[mn072065]

Exousia, I was just wondering about the water sheilds, do they dry completely. I seem to have a problem when i print in premium. A small bit smears. If i pass the finger thru them a tiny amount of ink is on my finger. After days of drying. Perhaps you have a special settings that I can use. Greatly appreciated. Thanks

[ron spencer]

I have some of TYs watershield 16x printable....GARBAGE. I have been burning since LG 4040b...never a coaster till these. I have 4 players going back to a Toshiba 4800 to Denon 2910. 15 burns...all had issues...not matter with LG or Benq drive....dunno why. So I went back to regular media Verbatim....no probs.

This watershield stuff is nonsense....I don't wash my DVDs

[dunamis]

Hi mn072065:

I have not had any problems at all using the watershield discs by Taiyu Yuden and I use them in my business all the time. The settings I use for regular printable discs are cd/dvd and Print Color Correction set ot plus 2. That gives a good dense print quality. They have to be left overnight to rally dry properly. With Watershield discs I use the Premium setting and the Print Color Correction set at Plus 1. I think if you rub hard on any printed disc you will most likely get some smearing but with normal handling these discs look and perform superbly well. I should probably also mention that I do not use OEM inks because of the expense. I buy from an aftermarket source and have been completely satisfied with the quality of the products.

I hope this is helpful to you. You may also like to check my web site viewpixmedia.com if youa re intersted in what we do with these discs.

Regards, John

[dunamis]

One more thing I should mention - I only burn my discs at 6X speed, even though they are rated for 16X. The reason for this is that they burn at a constant speed rather than a varying speed as is the case with any speed setting higher than 6X.

[SCDVD]

One more thing I should mention - I only burn my discs at 6X speed, even though they are rated for 16X. The reason for this is that they burn at a constant speed rather than a varying speed as is the case with any speed setting higher than 6X.

Interesting; I've heard the 6X constant speed recording idea before. Have you been able to see a difference in actual testing or are you burning at 6X to be conservative? When you do VHS to DVD conversions, do you transfer to hard disc first and then burn so you can have uninterrupted 6X burns as well?

[ron spencer]

I burned at 8x....maybe I just got a bad lot, but the playability was poor...and when I printed on them I found the surface did not look that good

[hech54]

Printable discs aren't necessary.

[dunamis]

I burn at 6X speed mainly because of the constant speed and the fact that I NEVER produce coasters that way. The discs are rated for 16X but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

So far as the Watershield discs are concerned - I printed several today and deliberately attempted to smear them immediately after printing. I rubbed my thumbs across the disc while pressing hard. The disc was perfectly dry and there was no smearing. I believe the people who have reported problems with these discs are probably not adjusting the print settings correctly, in other words, operator error rather than product failure. I don't mean to be critical in saying that because we are all learning how to do things better and only seek to help each other.

For my purposes, having a final product that has a high gloss photographic quality finish to it is well worth the small extra cost for the blank media. My clients absolutely love the appearance of the discs, especially when their own photos are on them and on the sleeve.

When I am working with VHS tapes as the source, I import them to my hard drive via an ADVC 300 unit. This gives me excellent quality and ensures the audio is perfectly in synch with the video. I can then use appropriate video editing software to make all the necessary adjustments prior to burning the DVD. For that final process I prefer to use DVDLab Studio as it gives great flexibility, particularly in the menus and navigation.

[user8608]

Watershield Discs are not necessary, however if you wish too print washable CD's or DVD's (they do get dirty sometimes). Taiyo makes a great disc. They have a very, very low failure rate. My experience with them is 3 out of 1000, and those failures were attributable to software errors.
They are a little pricey compared to non waterproof discs. I use 12 Epson 260R (discontinued) and they look great. For quick non-distributable discs use the Plain Taiyo's (non watershield). Insist on Taiyo Watershield Discs (they invented the CD).

JRB

[user8608]

Jerome Barber

[SCDVD]

The appearance is the relevant issue with WaterShield media. The ability to print glossy high resolution images is desirable to some people. I believe that Taiyo Yuden made a marketing mistake by emphasizing the "water resistant" characteristic. I think they have priced it too high which constrains their available market. Many users would pay a few cents more for it but when the price is double or triple the price of regular media, a very substantial number of people turn away.

[user8608]

SCDVD

I always give clients the choice between products. When they see the printed glossy they are impressed. However some just want throw away discs (promos). I do a lot of actor and actress demo reels and these are their "resumes". They want to give a good impression with good looks and content. Sometimes you have to pay more for a better seat! <lol>

JRB

[jman98]

user8608 - Welcome to the forums, but as a general rule we discourage doing exactly what you did - digging up an old thread that hadn't had a new post in more than 1 year and adding to it. I've seen worse examples and it's not like your posts weren't aligned with the subject, but you could also make a case that your posts didn't really add a whole lot to what had already been said. I'm not trying to slap you down, but just to point out that unless it's something like a case of you having a solution for a problem in an old thread that nobody else could solve, maybe it's best to just let sleeping threads lie. Just something to think about.

Anyway, since we seem to have reactivated this old thread now, I want to point out that TY's Watershield are just about the only discs I buy. However, I do have somewhat sweatier hands than most people. I'm not like some people I've seen profiled on programs like 20/20 where their hands just drip sweat all the time, but my hands definitely sweat more than most people. I have to be careful because if I touch a Watershield disc right after printing, it will partly come off on my fingers. I think that people with normal hands don't have this problem, but it's worth noting that if your hands are also sweatier than normal, you might want to avoid touching the surface of the disc for a while. I've seen some people claim in the past that immediately after printing to a Watershield disc that NOTHING (or so they claim) will make it come off. That has not been my experience, but they do dry quicker than printable Vertbatim discs I used in the past. Once they dry, there's no worry about me touching the surface.

[user8608]

JMan98

You know I never noticed the date. I thought it was current. I was looking for some other area. It just popped up!

Why do they keep these old posts anyway? Almost like the pro's and con's of Windows 98.

JRB