Need advice on DVD printer/where to buy

[EricS]

I am planning to buy my first DVD printer and wanted to find out what folks thought was the current best printer to buy.

For the folks who do a lot of DVD printing, if you had to buy a reasonably priced printer today, what would you go for?

Thanks.

[Bodyslide]

Try Here

I have the R200 with a CIS. Very Good Printer.

Link to the CIS System I have Here

[adam]

Just buy an R200 off of Newegg.com. You won't be sorry.

[Noahtuck]

Hey
I also am considering going to a printer that does direct dvd printing,
Obviously Bodyslide & adam you both have this printer,
How good are they for refilling ink ? like my canon's refill nicely but my HP (which prints super on glossy photo paper) only refill's a few times before the built in head starts to burn up and streak. the heads are built directly into the ink tanks.
Because now i see the R200/R300/R500 Continuous bulk ink system for Epson and this is making me more interested in this model.

And does anyone have any experiance with this thing, Convert CANON Inkjets BJC4300 BJC6000 to CD DVD Printer

[Bodyslide]

I have only had the CIS system since December. I haven't needed to refill yet.

[Noahtuck]

I have only had the CIS system since December. I haven't needed to refill yet.

Do you print alot with it ?? or do the tanks hold alot of ink ?

Because i get about 8-10 full page prints from one $22.00 cart then get about 2-3 refills before the cart head fries and i go through ALOT of printer carts!!!

[adam]

These Epsons are ideal for refilling ink, in my opinion. Unlike most other printers, the ink heads are contained in the system not on the cartridge. So they don't clog as much and you don't run into all those problems you get by reusing the same ink cartridge repeatedly. If you use one of the continuous ink systems then you really should never get your heads clogged at all.

With that said, I just purchase oem cartridges for now rather than bother with refilling them like I used to. If you buy in bulk its fairly reasonable because just printing disks doesn't use all that much ink, and that's all I use this printer for.

[Noahtuck]

Cool!!
I am definately gonna have to try one of these with that continuous bulk ink system.

Now i have to decide which TY printables i want to start ordering

And i hope i don't get shot down in the street for this, but i have been labeling disc's for acouple of years and have had no problems so far but i like the look and idea of printing directly to the disc

Thanks!!

[Bodyslide]

I have printed about 400 DVD's with the CIS system and the ink level has gone down about 25%. Each tank holds 100ml of ink. The link that's in your comments is the same one I bought.

[Bodyslide]

I would get the TY's from www.rima.com. I prefer the white ones.

http://www.rima.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R&Product_Code=1760-100

[Noahtuck]

COOL!!!
Sound's like just what i need!!!
Which one's exactly do you use ? because i have been doing + for awhile now just for the fact that i can bookset them to rom.
But i want to keep the cost down as much as possible but not get crappy media, if thats pssible with TY's ?
Thanks Again!!!


heh heh heh... i just asked and came back and you edited it into your post

And i also have been looking around rima & like the fact they take paypal!!!

[EricS]

Thanks for the input guys.

Anyone know of any rebate deals on the R200? I see from some previous threads that there were some pretty fantastic deals on them previously.

E

[Noahtuck]

Hey
One more question, Have any of you printed full covers with this printer ?
I already use Epson glossy photo paper with my HP and they come out FANTASTIC!!!
& does it have a sensor for paper length ?
Like my canon will print a full cover to a stanard piece of paper, but i have to tape 2 pieces together to fool my HP into thinking it is longer to print a full cover to a standard sheet of paper.
But i guess i'll find out cause i just bought one

[adam]

I've printed full covers and yes they look very good, at least as good as with any of my other printers. The R200 supports borderless printing so no you won't have to tape pages together anymore. You can pretty much print from one edge of the paper to the other.

[Noahtuck]

I've printed full covers and yes they look very good, at least as good as with any of my other printers. The R200 supports borderless printing so no you won't have to tape pages together anymore. You can pretty much print from one edge of the paper to the other.

What program are you using to print cover's with ??

The one i have always used & worked great but no matter what i set the settings to on the epson R200 it always cut's the end of the cover off & when i tried doing borderless it just stretched the cover from one end to the other of the paper and still cut the end of the cover off ??

They look GREAT except for the fact the end of the cover is getting cut off

And i really don't want to keep wasting paper & ink figuring it out

My CIS has yet to arrive, i just paid for it today so it will be acouple of days 8)

[adam]

I always just print in Photoshop. I don't even use the borderless option for standard covers, they fit no problem on 8 1/2 X 11 paper. But I've used the borderless option before for other stuff and it worked fine.

[RickTheRed]

Although I also have photoshop, I use the software that was bundled with the R200. Very easy to use.

For cover, I use HP photo semi-gloss with excellent results.

The OEM Epson cartridge are filled with 13ml of ink each. The CIS kit come with something like 100ml per color. You cannot compare with how many of this or that someone prints, because they may use different settings that consume the ink at different rate (like me, since I have the JLW CIS, I always use the best setting because, now, ink cost close to nothing per print).

Last comments the photographs printed on Epson Glossy Premium look pretty much the same than with the Epson ink.

I honestly recommend the R200.

[Skith]

I believe most epson (borderless capable) printers have an option in the printer driver/setup for full bleed (borderless) printing. Keep in mind, some printers will slightly enlarge an image when printing borderless. So create your images with the expectation you might lose 1/8 to 1/16 inches in boarder.

[daamon]

@ EricS - I use a Canon PIXMA IP5000 and am very happy with it. And very well priced at AUS$290 from a computer fair around Melbourne.

[Noahtuck]

Although I also have photoshop, I use the software that was bundled with the R200. Very easy to use.

I just set up my R200 tonight so i have not messed much with the sofware that came with it but i have not seen a way to print photo's to a specific size, although i'm sure i just have not found it yet......

And yeah, i figured i would have to use PS CS, i have 7 & 8....

Sucks, cause the small program i have always used always worked great, just with this Epson it seem's to want to cut the end off... i know it's not the printer because i did a full cover with another program but it does not allow for specific H/W settings.....

& yeah i know.... i also ordered the JLW CIS :P
Just paid for it today and my 100 printable dvd+r's from Rima are going to be here tomorrow!!!!!!
YAY!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!

[Noahtuck]

okay, for a cover to fit a dvd case i have always printed them at 10.85" X 7.25", now i even used PS 7.0.1 and it is still cropping them off at the end ??
If i choose standard size paper it say it will crop some of the photo off, when i choose legal paper it does not give me that warning but it still crops the end off, and i'm NOT choosing borderless printing.....
And in PS i am even going to "print with preview" and setting the photo VERY close to the top edge of the paper......

Can you guys shoot some of the setting you use over and with what programs, 'm gonna mess with the program that came with the printer to see if i can get it to print the full cover...

[Noahtuck]

Although I also have photoshop, I use the software that was bundled with the R200. Very easy to use.

Which software is that ?? because the one i have i don't see anywhere to print a photo the specific size i need for a cover ?

Thanks

[adam]

In Photoshops print with preview select the "scale to fit media." This should maximize the photo to fill the page but not get cropped. And if you haven't tried the borderless printing option then do so. This is specifically what it is designed to help with.

Also, this is probably a dumb question but you are printing landscape correct? (or have your image rotated on its side..)

[aanaravs]

I use a $10 software called DVDCoverPrint. There is a free trial for 30 days. All you have to do is save your DVD cover as a jpeg, import into DVDCoverPrint and select to print on legal paper (but insert a letter sized paper). It prints perfectly!

[RickTheRed]

@Noahtuck
The software that was bundled with my R200 is "Film Factory".
When you have selected your cover/artwork you rightclick to see the pixel size. Let's us say it is 3240x 2175 pixels. You then select print assignment and click "user defined" size.
I chose 276mm and depending on the original pixel size, I change the picture's height, around 181-185mm (in this example, it will be 185.3mm).

[Noahtuck]

In Photoshops print with preview select the "scale to fit media." This should maximize the photo to fill the page but not get cropped. And if you haven't tried the borderless printing option then do so. This is specifically what it is designed to help with.

Also, this is probably a dumb question but you are printing landscape correct? (or have your image rotated on its side..)

yes, i have my image on it's side & i have used photoshop for printing before, just something must be wacky because i have never had a problem before printing covers & i did try borderless, all it did was stretch the cover from one edge of the paper to the other and still cropped off the end .

@Noahtuck
The software that was bundled with my R200 is "Film Factory".
When you have selected your cover/artwork you rightclick to see the pixel size. Let's us say it is 3240x 2175 pixels. You then select print assignment and click "user defined" size.
I chose 276mm and depending on the original pixel size, I change the picture's height, around 181-185mm (in this example, it will be 185.3mm).

Yeah, i found that in film factory after messing with it for a while last night and got it to work, but it still bugs me that i could not get the other programs to work right & i have used PS alot to print covers, just not for the last year.

But thank's guys, i got it to finally work through film factory although i would rather get it to work with my usual program or PS.
I'll just keep messing with it.

But i LOVE the first print i did on a printable cd-r
Now i'm drooling for my Printable dvdr's to get here today 8)

[JSB]

Do you guys with the R200 have any problems with the print head clogging up?

I had a epson 780 about three years ago, my first son was just born, and the damn thing clogged up ALL the time. Now I could see if I use crap refills or OEM compatibles.... or if I didn't use it much, but with the new baby I was using it all the time. I through the printer away and got a Canon S900 (sweet printer).

Anyways I am very leary of Epson....

JSB

[Bodyslide]

Not to threadjack:

I have used an Epson 900 for more than 5000 + prints and no clogs. I have used an R200 for 500+ prints and no issues.

[Skith]

Try placing your final image on an 8.5 x 11 (HxW) canvas. Use the Printer's Borderless setting.

see my attached sample (300dpi PSD file, zipped). coverexample.zip

You may have to slightly rescale the image and adjust its placement horizontially to maximize the area printed, and might take some expirimentation. I can not say exactly, as I currently only have a template for Alpha double cases (very thick spine).

As I said before, when printing "borderless" you have to account for "bleed." Printer drivers (Epson) often slightly enlarge an image beyond the paper size, in order to ensure the image covers the entire area (thus the image is slightly cropped. The size varries, but is usualy 1/16 to 1/32 of an in PER side (thus 1/8 to 1/16 of the documents size will be cropped from an equivilant sized piece of paper).

This is a very irritating feature of many printer drivers, when precise control is needed. Average "Jill and Joe" print borderless snapshots, where slight cropping is not noticable. When professionals (with high end equipment like the Epson Sylus 9600 or 10000) print, they often create their image with an excess area beyond the printable area. They then know their image will cover the full sheet, and do not require "automated" resizing that "Average Jill and Joe" depend on. So it is a case of Manufacturers "dumbing" down (simplifying) for consumers... which ironically makes printing precise borderless covers difficult.

I hope you understand all that, and that I have not rambled to much.
Good Luck!