Epson R200, new cheaper disk printer?

[dat]

Just got my R200 at Fry's for $89.00. The printer does a better job than I expected. Good job Epson.

[Will Hay]

OMG, the R200 is incredible!!!!!
Just one thing, are you supposed to remove the CD tray when you shut down the printer, because each time I turn the printer off and back on I get a message which, from memory, appears to be to adjust the tray (and the ink light and paper light flashes red).
It only clears when I remove the CD tray and lift up the flap.
If I then drop the flap down and insert the tray is all fine, is this normal?
I only ask as I intend to use this printer for CD/DVD's only.
Will

[offline]

@ Will Hay

According to Epson you are supposed to remove the tray
and close the flap before starting. At the steady green light
you can put the tray in. You can turn off as you like, but
you have to set as above prior to starting - I put mine away
as it looks vunerable to accidents.

@ Poppa_Meth

Have you tried those generic carts from Rima yet?
C'mon I thought New Yorkers' were faster than the
rest of us?

@ anybody

Anyone concerned about wear and tear on the cd tray? I wonder
if I should source another (if possible) just in case?

[Touchdown]

LOL, sure sure. $60.00 ? cmon now. And going out of bussiness? pluh leaseeeee

I'd be more than happy to post a scan of the receipt if you'd like proof, but I would suggest checking out the Gateway Country stores as they are all going to be shut down by Friday.

By the way, picked up a 15" flat panel LCD for $100 yesterday there too (display model).

Does any one know if the software for the R200 and R300 are the same? I can borrow a friends R200 CD.

Thanks

[Will Hay]

According to Epson you are supposed to remove the tray
and close the flap before starting. At the steady green light
you can put the tray in. You can turn off as you like, but
you have to set as above prior to starting - I put mine away
as it looks vunerable to accidents.

Okay, thank you for the tip.

I never had to adjust the printer position settings on mine, printed perfectly first time, made a slight adjustment to the inner and outer diameter settings for the ritek g04's to get maximum coverage. I use 42mm inner and 118mm outer.

As we now use the same printer and media I thought I'd try this first; my first print was flawless


If anyone cares to post which setting they're using/happy with for CD/DVD printing I'd be very interested (and grateful of course)

I was suprised there wasn't a little more paperwork that came with the printer.
Okay, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out the CD/DVD tray but it took me a few minutes and wasn't sure I'd done it right until a great looking disk came out the other side!
Not a complaint, I'm of an age where I can handle most things of thsi type; just an observation.

Finally, my printer goes through some sort of brief alignment process each time I switch it on, the ink cartridges do a little dance of sorts.
I'm assuming this is normal, right?
Will Hay

[jaxxboss]

Touchdown
U missed my later posts as I have already found out baout them. Not much media coverage regarding it. We only have one around here anyway and it was pretty much picked clean.

As far as software for the r200 and 300 why would u ned one for the other? u should have got one when u got ur printer.

Anyway,.... The media of choice seems to be either Memorex from Amazon at $1.00 a piece (100 spindle), or BeAll. Some use princo, again its a matter of choice and what u wanna pay.

And I'm like soooo close now to switching out my light magenta with my generic. Not that Im hoping I run out of ink soon.

[jaxxboss]

Will Hay
LOL, you know what that allignment process reminds me of sometimes. have you ever seen the movie called inner space with Dennis Quaid and Martin Short and Meg Ryan? He gets shrunk down and injected into martin shorts body. Anyway, remember the scene where the lab machine goes thru this long azz process to pick up the microchip?
lol, same crap here . Too funny, but it prints .

[Will Hay]

LOL jaxxboss.

Anyone tried both the 'photo' and 'best photo' option?
How do they compare?
What about the print colour coreection settings?


OMG, I can't stop printing with this thing, and I said I was going to be selective in the prints I did
Will Hay

[Garmy]

Where do you get the art work for the dvd ? Is there a site that you d/l before you print to disc?

[Will Hay]

Where do you get the art work for the dvd ? Is there a site that you d/l before you print to disc?

I already have the artwork I need for the backups I do, but I'm mostly creating pictures from the camcorder stuff I have on DVD.
If, as I suspect, you are backing up your own DVD's but your young two year old son has scrawled all over the original disk and you therefore can't scan (or perhaps you don't have a scanner, right?), then this site here might be just what you're looking for

Will Hay, a nice chap, from Great Britain (Great Britain; a small Island just off the US shore)

[offline]

I print @ Photo -1 (0 on some media looks too dark imo)

Best Photo (Vivid) gives me some of the best results but
I do not like to think how that guzzels the ink and
in dark black facias with colour, the contrast seems too high.
Set micro weave on if you really need a cup of coffee and
you want the smoothest colour seperation - only worth it
for "showcase" stuff.

the ink cartridges do a little dance of sorts.

Your 1st Epson, I'm guessing. They all seem to do that - cant
work out the tune yet - I'm thinking maybe the Rhumba
or some Latin dance rhythm.

[klovely78]

I just bought mine from J & R (in NYC) www.jandr.com yesterday, and I have to say...It is HOT! I love this thing.

[Poppa_Meth]

I'm not from New York, I'm from Virginia!! We slow people!!

I'm not hoping to run out of ink anytime soon either. my black is down to 1/4 left. I just haven't had time to burn off any music compilations or print covers lately. I'd be doing more if I had printable DVD media but I still have at least 40 Ritek silver tops left to burn up first. and of course once I do switch out I'm sure it'll take a bit for the ink to mix through the heads. thats what I worry about the most. am I going to have wierd colors for a while till the ink cycles through? Oh well gotta expect it.

[Will Hay]

Hmm, I've just gently run my finger across a disk I did with two words of text on, and it's run/smudged.
I printed it 2, maybe 3 hours ago.

my black is down to 1/4 left

What would you say'd done to use up your 3/4's, could you say?
Will

[stiltman]

Just picked up an R200 from Frys about an hour ago. They had a display with a CD that said actual printed on printer. I wetted my finger and rubbed it across the CD and it smeared pretty bad...Guess I'll use some Krylon clear matte finish on my CDs and DVDs. Glad they didn't catch me messing up their dispaly disk

I bought some cheap printable CDs to test it out on.
Think I'll order some printable Riteks online, but I just bought two 25 packs of the orange tops last week...bummer...

[Poppa_Meth]

I've done about a dozen CDs and probably about a dozen inserts. but this is the first set so they had to fill the heads. I was also printing too heavy on ink for a bit before finding my optimum settings. I also wasted a fair little bit trying to print on HP photo paper before I realized this printer just will not work with HP papers. Now that I've got it all down pat I'll have to wait till the second set of carts to get a decent idea of what it will do. I've heard reports of people doing well over 100 discs before changing carts.

[offline]

I have used MaxData & Princo printable media and you can
rub your thumb hard across the surface after a few minutes
with NO smearing (even at +1 best photo dark black).

If you wet your thumb you can still smear a little after
24 hours - so I use generic hairspray and then you
can wash them under hot water.

No BS- I promise! Some printable media absorbs ink
better than others.

[jaxxboss]

Normal uses of a dvd would dictate that you would hold the disc by its side. Nobody really takes a regualr dvd and wets their finger and rubs the disc so why should anyone do it with a printed disc?

[offline]

Umm.. see photo below

[jaxxboss]

Umm, yea guess I want him munching on hair spray or krylon. Real good there buddy. Not to mention the fact that nothing will be protected from him anyway.
Next please.

[offline]

hair spray or krylon. Real good there buddy.

I was inferring about the conditions a printed DVD can come up against.
Even an adult with sweaty hands could cause a problem. BTW the photo is yours, I assume it's your kid, so don't go questioning
my parenting skills!

Not to mention the fact that nothing will be protected from him anyway.

I'm really out to make anything kid proof here ...

Oh.. and I'm not your buddy! :P

[jaxxboss]

I was inferring about the conditions a printed DVD can come up against.
Even an adult with sweaty hands could cause a problem. BTW the photo is yours, I assume it's your kid, so don't go questioning
my parenting skills!

First you're inferring then you go assume and lastly something about ur parenting skills (where did that come from?).

Point is that I said the usual way to hold disc is on the side, u replied by showing my pic to prove that usual is NOT always what happens. I understand that kids come into the equation. My point is that whether it be a REAL store bought dvd or one with great ink printed on it or one with a sealer any kid (like in the pic) will tear that sucker up, so it dont matter ..moot point.

Now behave urself

Oh yeah, you are my bud if I say you are. Sorry, but I'm the boss of you.
You're my bud although I am not your bud because I dont wanna be.

[offline]

Now behave urself

Oh yeah, you are my bud if I say you are. Sorry, but I'm the boss of you.
You're my bud although I am not your bud because I dont wanna be.

It was gonna be lawyers, guns and money until I read that last bit

[budz]

Just wondering what is the cost for the ink cartridges for this CD/DVD printer? After reading these posts I'd like to get one since it's so cheap.

[Will Hay]

Anyone printed a CD/DVD disk and dropped down to the 'image and text' setting (rather than photo)?



Is it shite, I don't want to waste a disk and would welcome the feedback.
Will


BTW, All the tests I've done since don't smear at all, it was only the one with black text and no, I didn't wet my finger

[Poppa_Meth]

I never use the basic settings so can't comment on that. I set it all manually and create my own profiles.

as for ink cost the epson carts usually run about $20 for black and $13 for any of the colors. Not cheap at all. You can get generic carts for as little as $5 a piece.

[jaxxboss]

It was gonna be lawyers, guns and money until I read that last bit

Glad to see that your a worthy Warren Zevon fan

[nickelzy]

I've printed about 50 discs so far using Memorex DVD+R's (Ricoh) and they look terrific. However, a problem which occurs probably once every 10-12 discs that I print is that I get a couple of stray ink splots on my disc. It's like the printer got a little messy and it really takes away from the fantastic quality of my discs when this occurs (especially when I have a white or very light background). Sometimes I can take my finger, wetten it a little, and rub the spot out a bit. Only once did I make it worse, but I'd rather not have to do this at all. Anyone else have this problem? And more importantly, any suggestions on how to rectify it?

I tried running some blank sheets of paper through the printer, but the second disc after doing this came out with some ink splots on it. Maybe one of the printer utilities will help - any thoughts?

[jaxxboss]

Dont know what to tell ya on that. Are u using the full settings when ur printing? maybe u can cut back from best photo to just photo and go paper vice dvd. Its just a guess, but if it keeps doing it, exchange it immediately.

My disc carraige kinda goes bonkers every now and then. I have to shut it down and restart things. Happens maybe once every 50 or so discs.

Im almost done backing up all my dvd's and just have home movies left, so I'm not worried too much. I think maybe I was printing too much, too often.. I dunno.

[Poppa_Meth]

clean the heads every so often. run a basic cleaning every 10 discs or so.