DVD Media Labels

[dataport]

With Lightscribe gone, and paper labels not an alternative:

Looking for advice, costs, and experience with ink-jet label printers. Biggest concern is cost of cartridges - how many disc's can be printed before they run out (with only Title/Date printed)?

[Brainiac]

I have had a number of inkjet printers that printed directly to cd/dvd and have had good success. Most have been Epsons.
The one I own now is the Canon MG-5420 that I picked up on Amazon a few years ago. It works well and the cartridges come in standard and high capacity versions. It uses 5 cartridges.
I would imagine you would be able to print a good number of discs if the coverage was fairly low. I print discs with varying degrees of coverage so I cannot even guess how many discs you could print with just title and date.


Brainiac

[redwudz]

I have an Epson Artisan 720 printer/scanner/disc printer that works well, though I rarely print to discs. I use recycled cartridges from http://www.ldproducts.com/
They work well and are much lower priced. (Less than 1/2 price of the locally available cartridges.) Sorry, no idea how many discs can be printed.

You should also be aware that ink jet printers use water soluble ink and some sort of water resistant fixative may be needed if the discs are to be handled a lot.

[aedipuss]

currently i use a canon mg7520 to print on discs. i use non-canon carts that sell for a couple bucks. works well and the cost per disc is pennies even if you did a full color cover on them.

[johnmeyer]

I've used an Epson for years. My wife uses it occasionally to print regular documents, so I can't give you a precise estimate of how many discs you can print before one or more of the five cartridges have to be replaced. I've done many large projects, including one that involved producing 250 DVDs. I know from that experience that if you have a simple label that doesn't involve covering the entire DVD that you can easily produce 250 DVDs on one set of cartridges.

Nothing else compares to printing directly on the DVD: the results are very professional-looking.

[koberulz]

You should also be aware that ink jet printers use water soluble ink and some sort of water resistant fixative may be needed if the discs are to be handled a lot.

Is that a thing? I've always just settled for treating the front of printed discs exactly the same way I treat the back of all discs: avoid touching whenever possible.

I mean, I know fixatives are a thing (although I'm not the arty type, so they didn't occur to me until now), but for spraying onto a DVD?

[usually_quiet]

Some ink-jet printable DVDs include a coating that is supposed to improve water resistance for ink-jet printed labels. http://www.verbatim.com/prod/optical-media/professional-optical/dvdrecordable/aquaace-...ble-sku-96552/ I don't know how well they work.

[koberulz]

I had some Optical Quantum Blu-Rays with something like that, it seemed to work. Not available on Verbatim DL DVDs from the place I normally get discs, though.

[johnmeyer]

[QUOTE=koberulz;2458651]

I mean, I know fixatives are a thing (although I'm not the arty type, so they didn't occur to me until now), but for spraying onto a DVD?

A long time ago, I actually did this, using a can of spray fixative that I bought at an art supply store. It worked fine, but was a PITA. I finally realized that I had never actually smeared a label, and that after the ink dries, you need really wet hands to cause a problem.

Many people use the watershield DVDs and claim that their modified surface significantly reduces smearing. They do cost more, and since I produce a lot of DVDs, I wasn't interested in increasing my costs, especially since I've never had a single complaint about smearing (and I've produced and distributed thousands and thousands of discs).

[redwudz]

No actual experience with ink running on DVDs,
but I did have a paper home printed ticket for a play that got wet as I ran to the theater and the bar code washed off.
Fortunately the 'Will call' office printed me a new one.

Now if it rains, I put my printed ticket in a zip lock bag to keep it dry.

I assumed that ink could also wash off a DVD. Good to know it's a minor problem.

[october262]

I just use a sharpie to write the name on all my dvds.

[redwudz]

I use a Sharpie most times also. And 91% isopropyl alcohol will mostly remove the Sharpie ink.

[HarpMaster]

I've got an Epson Stylus Photo P50, which prints directly onto the discs, DVD and CD. I generally use Taiyo Yuden "Watershield" discs and have a continuous ink supply system, which is, probably, the cheapest way to print. I've used this system for a number of years and been very happy with, both, the quality of the ink and the cheapness of the refill ink bottles. Even with printing regularly full colour labels as well as covers for the discs, the ink seems to last forever!

For needing to print often and/or regularly on disc labels, I would definitely recommend looking at the CISS system.

[cornemuse]

post # 12, , , ,

[comandoed]

I've used Brother MFC-J430W printer that uses dirt cheap cartridges (LC71 & 75) from Amazon.

LC103 cartridges are also pretty cheap.

[JVRaines]

Epson XP-620 with Verbatim AquaAce white printable discs. They're glossy, look great, and don't smear. I create my art in PhotoShop, then print using Epson's Print CD application.

[rlasleson]

I've used TY Watershield blanks for quite a while. It's very difficult to make them smear, even when I try with a wet finger, and I like that. I also have some older Verbatim printables which will always smear, even with very moderate effort. Verbatim also has AquaAce printables that are apparently much like the Watershield, although I've just been reading about some problems with the edges of the surface flaking off. I don't know if this is current or old information though.

I have an HP D5460 PhotoSmart printer that I print labels with. Before buying it I read about labeling printers. Epson and Canon supposedly had nozzle plugging problems if they weren't used frequently. I didn't see any such complaints about the HP so I bought it. It does work, even after very long idle periods (months) but when I turn it on it bumps and grinds and shakes for up to a couple minutes - cleaning the nozzles I guess. It has never failed to work but it can use a lot of ink in this process - and HP knows how to charge for the ink.