Paper used for cd and dvd covers

[wan2no]

What kind of paper, do the movie dvds or cd applications use? For instance, i was looking at the cover for matrix revolutions and the cover had felt like a card material paper. What is this kind of paper and where can you get it? The cover also had a curve edge. Do you know what was used or what can be used to create a curve edge to paper?

Sorry for all the questions, i am just interested.

[wanderer51]

Do you mean the printing on the actual DVD/CDs, or the insert in the cover?. If you mean the media, then you need printable DVD/CDs (and a printer that is capable of printing on them).
For the insert, I usually use just plain paper but friends of mine use matte photo paper which I admit produces a better result and is thicker than ordinary paper. If you want to print covers on card stock, then go for something that is 140-160 gsm (grams per square metre...ordinary printer paper is 80gsm). The curved edges...can't help with that as I have never seen it.

[ridgerunrbunny]

Home printers are for poop these, costing more in ink than they are worth themselves so I have mine done at the local copy shop. I edit in Click and Design (believe or not) then go over to Adobe photo shop and make it mo better. Put it on a disc and take it to the shop. You can pick the paper. Their cheapest paper usually looks great since it is photo quality. I figure it relieves the ware and tear on the color copier I no longer have due to using generic color ink, which the machines are programed to die on. The copy is far superior to anything my brothers could do anyway and done with a lazer that I can't afford. Looks great and they maintain their own machines. My copier only does black and white now which is fine by me. As soon as I run out of the supply of colored ink that I must use in order to print even in greyscale, I am going to go out and purchase the cheapest piece of crap I can find. Because there is no quality in home copy machines.

Bunny

[rallynavvie]

Don't think there's a Kinko's in Grenada

I do second the use of a good color laser printer for this job. Inkjets just don't have quite the quality and consistency and have nowhere near the longetivity and durability of a laser print. A good 28# paper made for color laser printers works great (probably what bunny was referring to) since your covers are usually slid in behind clear pastic on the cover itself. Why print it on gloss when the plastic over it determines if its glossy or not? If you want it to have a glossier feel like the commercial ones try using a text-weight gloss. Results on the gloss may vary depending on the artwork; it tends to like line art rather than halftones depending on the printer used.

If you're going to make liner notes then text gloss is your best bet. Can be a bit tricky to line up properly front-to-back (duplexing) so make sure to overbleed your layouts.

[Mylan23]

yeah

[wan2no]

aight thanks

[ozymango]

I do second the use of a good color laser printer for this job. Inkjets just don't have quite the quality and consistency and have nowhere near the longetivity and durability of a laser print.

Ummm ... this depends a lot on your source images, and your materials. I'll agree that for the bulk of your plain color "graphics" printing (like most DVD stuff where you're not looking for necessarily photo-realistic images), a good laser printer will perform great, fast, and give you excellent results.

But I wouldn't write off a good inkjet printer, and as far as actual photographic longevity, a good inkjet printer beats even a good laser printer. That's because laser printers basically melt plastic onto the paper, while inket printers -- if used with good ink and good paper -- have an image that basically "soaks" into the paper. Epson inkjet ink and paper will easily outlast any laser color print out there, based on current technologies. And as far as "quality" goes, an inkjet photograph from even a cheap printer (that uses photo colors) blows away pretty much any laser print.

Not that I think anybody is all that concerned about their DVD covers lasting 100 years, or needs photo-realistic detail. So yeah, if you're printing a lot of DVD covers and the like where you're looking for speed and general good quality, a laser printer can be great. But a good inket printer with individual ink tanks (like my Canon ip6000d) is pretty cost-efficient, and boasts excellent quality as well.

[Mylan23]

well i think staples can do this for you