Printable media

[b166er]

I have been buring discs for some time now and decided I wanted a more professional look that my scrawly hand writing. I first tried labels and found these a real pain so I purchased an epson 900 and some printable media.

I have to say the print looks good but not totally amazing ! the colours look dull. I check the resolution etc and it is at it's highest etc

has anyone come across any photo quality cd media - or glossy printable media ? just the std seems a little dull to me like plain paper print.

Anyone else found this or have any insight ?

[Bob W]

I have printed a few Princo 4x printable DVD-R discs with my Epson 900 and I thought they looked amazing. I did however have to lighted up the settings otherwise they come out a bit on the dark side.

[b166er]

they do look class don't get me wrong but they are not stunning in terms of colour compared to how the cd looks on screen ?

perhaps I am asking too much.

[LanEvo7]

You simple can't get the glossy look to a printable cd. Its just not possible since the printable cd surface isn't designed for that. Setting the printer to the highest resolution will not help either. I'd suggest you save yourself some ink and do not print on the highest possible setting. If you do want the glossy look, try to find some printable media(I've never seen any) that has a glossy feel on the top to it.

[b166er]

thanks,

so just print on std photo rather than high photo ?

to be honest it looks as if the colour gets better as it dries out I think over the last 12 hours my cds have got better - or have I lost it completely.

[hhamzeh]

Hi,
I am planning to get Epson 900 soon (I do not think the price goes any lower, actually this model is becoming discontinued). Anyways, could you guys confirm if the colors on the DVD is stable (by stable I mean not to get messy if you touch it) after the disc gets dry. I heard somewhere people use spray after printing.

Any prefered resulotion in term of trade off between quality and consuming ink? Thanks.

[b166er]

I would be interested to know what the spray is also. They do recommend you leave touching the discs for 24 hours after printing if that is any help

[leebo]

There is a special spray sole at B&H Photo online (not sure of the exact address).

Some have claimed to use Krylon clear spray (available in home centers and hardware stores), but I have no idea if that works well or not.

I saw one example of a disc printed with the 900. It was a demo disc from Epson, so I assume it was one of the better examples. I wasn't real impressed.

I'm considering the Epson 960, which claims to have the smalest picoliter engine of any ink jet, but have not seen any examples.
I wonder if it's worth the extra $100.

[KTH]

In terms of using a spray to protect the printed surface after printing I have tried a couple of the Krylon sprays. The Krylon 1305 & 1306 seem to both work fine. The 1305 produces & more rough finish when you touch it. The 1306 produces a smother finish. I actually prefer the smoother finish of the 1306. Both of these sprays seem to dry very fast (within minutes), but be aware that the instructions say that both of these sprays are HIGHLY FLAMMABLE and must be used in well ventilated areas. It also says not to have any sources of fire, or sparks nearby that might ignite the fumes. Seems like these sprays may be more flammable than regular aerosols. One more thing to note is that I would recommend covering the recording surface with masking tape before spraying. The spray seems to have a tendency to seep under the disc.

[solarfox]

The print surface on a "printable" CD-R / DVD-R disc is pretty similar in composition to "photo" inkjet paper, so the ink should bond to the carrier medium sufficiently that it won't be ruined by casual handling once its fully dried. I'm not altogether sure that a spray is even necessary.

as to b166er's original question -- you have just experienced something which has been the bane of desktop publishers everywhere practically from the day color printing was invented. Your monitor makes colors by combining different amounts of red, green, and blue light, while your printer makes colors by combining cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks, and never (or at least rarely) the twain shall meet.

Professional graphic-arts and publishing houses overcome this by using the Pantone color system, in which colors are strictly and painstakingly matched -- but IIRC, this requires quite a bit of specialized equipment and software to work properly. (Cartridges filled with Pantone inks, calibrated monitors, Pantone-aware publishing software, etc.)

[b166er]

no we are off topic can I ask one last question for epson 900 owners, do you have to use their software for printing the cds - is anyone using anything else ?

[zepplyn]

Has anyone ever used shiny silver (non-printable) discs to print on? I just did, and I'm waiting (24 hr wait) to to if it will smear...

Ron

[lordsmurf]

I wonder if anybody's ever tried to spray-paint a CD-R or DVD-R.