Epson Stylus Photo R300 - Direct CD Printing

[Evil Dragon]

I recently bought this printer and so far I am quite impressed with it. Though there is one thing that is bugging me, the Direct CD Printing. After reading the manual I followed the instructions and used the free card template CD and printed a custom label on that. I waited the suggested 24 hours to find that the outcome was that the label seemed dull and a little blurry. I just suspected that this was because I was printing on card though.

Next I decided to print on an Inkjet Printable CD, and I am yet to go through the 24 hour waiting process but, the Ink on the CD appears dotty and patchy. I have since printed the same label onto paper and a paper label so I can compare, the label went through the same process as the CD. I am basically asking if anyone can confirm the high quality CD printing I have been told this printer has, and I probably just being too eager expecting brilliant results straight away, but I wasnt expecting to wait 24 hours :P .

Also can anyone tell me how many Highest quality covers and cd labels I cant print before having to replace the cartridges.

Cheers 8)

[Poppa_Meth]

All discs are not created equal. What kind of DVD or CD are you printing on. Various brands have various results. The Memorex discs are designed for the epson printers and print quite good. Some other brands don't absorb the ink nearly as well. you also need to adjust the setting manually. The epsons usually print really light right out of the box. Their gamma settings are worked around high settings in Photoshop I believe. I either drop the brightness or mess with gamma settings to get decent results.

[Evil Dragon]

I am not sure what brand the cds I used were but I do know that I have ordered these dvds from SVP Communications....

{DV 3071/25} Ritek Inkjet Printable A Grade (4x) DVD-R in Pack of 25

One of our best selling discs.

This disc will appeal to those people who like a disc with a plain white surface or who have bought themselves an inkjet CD/DVD printer.

This 4x white-topped inkjet printable DVD-R is a great value for money product from Ritek

The 4x Ritek dye (known as the G04 dye) is tried and tested and is the heart of what makes this such a high quality disc.

Before using the new 4x media, please ensure that it is appropriate to the hardware in which you are using it. Customers with 2x and 1x DVD writers are advised to check their hardware manufacturers website for firmware upgrades before using this media.

ADVDINFO: .RITEKG..04.

Suggested for use on the following hardware: Pioneer 103/A03, Pioneer 104/A04, Pioneer 105/A05, Pioneer 106/A06, Pioneer 107/A07, Panasonic E20, E30, E50, E100, HS2, Sony DVD+/-R drives,Plextor DVD+/-R drives, NEC ND-1300a., NEC ND 2500, Liteon DVD+/-R drives, LG DVD+/-R drives and most other DVD-R writers and modern DVD players.

This disc writes at 4x

You mentioned Memorex as being good Inkjet DVDs, I live in the UK and wondered if you knew any good suppliers based in the UK for these.

Also I when I printed out the labels on paper and a cd label the brightness and colour was alright so I know that I dont have to calibrate that.

Cheers

[dxj40c]

I am using the R200 Epson. I can confirm that the quality of the printing on DVD printables is not a good as print quality on Photo Paper, but since I know the printer is capable of making a high-quality print (on Photo Paper) the surface of the disk must cause the difference. I sort of like the 'softening' effect I get on the disks I use, so it hasn't bothered me. I would like to try some of the other printer 'settings' combinations, but disks cost too much and I don't want to screw up anything that has already been successfuly burned.
It would be interesting to know what other settings have produced.

[Poppa_Meth]

I set mine to standard photo paper with photo print quality and dark +1 on the software and they come out pretty close to original. I'm sure setting the quality up to Best photo would be even better but it takes too much ink. I'd rather keep a balance of quality to ink consumption.

try Amazon.com for the Memorex discs. Here in the states Amazon carries a 50 spindle for $50 and a 100 spindle for $100. All of them I've ordered so far have been Ricoh discs. I've only order +R.

[iooi]

I am not sure what brand the cds I used were but I do know that I have ordered these dvds from SVP Communications....


Cheers

Use them disk's on a epson 900 printer and the finish is great. At a guess if its fuzzy then you are laying down too much ink. Use the Cd/Dvd setting and anything from -2 to +1 should be more than enough on the Ritek Discs. The more black you lay down the lower the number wants to be.
Do not expect the same quality and the disks you buy unless the cover has a lot of white for the background. In fact for a lot of mine where the main background is black or very dark colour's i have started inverting the colour's makes for a much better disk label...

You should be looking at 100+ disks and covers at least.
Tend to use mine for mainly disk labels and get at least 200 from a set of carts.

[Evil Dragon]

What settings do you print them on though:

Draft, Text, Text & Image, Photo or Best Photo

[DTSL06]

I use the earlier epson 900 printer. I found that selecting the media type setting can have a great effect on the printed output. There are pro's and con's tho.

When I use the CD/DVD setting at photo quality and 0, the disk are a little faded using the white top Ritek G04 printables. Whn using the prodiscS03 silver printables the image is like a hologram, kind of grows on u. Almost smear proof with the S03 compared to the G04.

When I switch to glossy photo paper setting and photo quality and 0, the white top G04 print like the originals, maybe a bit darker. same with the S03 which looses some of the hologram effect. The con it seems more ink is applied. The surfaces feels a little tacky and seems to scratch more easily.

Still trying find the perfect balance setting tho.

[axolotls]

I think Memorex DVD+R printables are the worst I've ever used. Look and feel like crap.

I like the smoothness of the G04's, but now settle for Prodisc printables (for now).

[iooi]

What settings do you print them on though:

Draft, Text, Text & Image, Photo or Best Photo

In print cd software i use in printer settings "Cd/Dvd" and then 0 in Print Colour Correction.
Rind these to be best for Ritek Disks.
They did take higher settings before like "Photo Paper" but they take to long to dry and all it does is waste ink.

[Evil Dragon]

I recieved my Inkjet DVDs and it drys almost instantly, with a brilliant finish.

[nick101181]

What settings do you use in position? I'm using the r200 and I was tinkering with the settings try to get it to print all the way to the edge instead of leaving a smallring but by doing that the disc I just printed has a wider edge on the top left side and the rest ofthe disc has the same edge around. So what settings do you use for postion and if you know what's the default? I got a lop-sided disc now but oh well I'm not gonna throw it away.

[psx_pirate]

nick101181 .... you need to adjust the print position from within the "epsom print cd" software that came supplied with the printer i think its on the file menu but i cant swear to that as i'm currently on a different computer to the one that has the epsom r200 connected anyhow it doesnt take much finding from here you can adjust the exact position that the image will be printed on the disc .... i used some old discs to test the position and adjusted it until i got it spot on and now i get a perfect print on the disc with no white bits left showing

[harley2ride]

I printed a few on my R300 on Prodisc 8x -R, and they look as good as the originals. I had to make sure to check (photo quality) in my properties. Seems the R300 defaults each time back to the lowest quality settings and 8 1/2 X 11. I have to remember to change everything when I print different sized photos or DVD's. I do know that without the proper settings, it won't come out very good.

[Umbearto]

Harley, if the printer driver is anything like the earlier CD Printing Epson SP900 you can make all the settings "stick" by selecting all the printing properties you need for your print job and then select "save custom settings" Just name the custom setting as "Ritek" or Memorex..whatever...then when you go to print the same kind of job you can just select that setting and it fills in all your adjustments...it's much quicker. I have a custom setting for all the different media I use; this way I can reserve what little memory I have left for something other than printer settings...

[nick101181]

The last disc I did the top left side was more in than close to the edge. I see that the top and left settings are negative 66.5 or something do i increase or lower the negative amount to push the top left edge out more? I'm using Ridata media with the clear hub. This is close to ritek media I believe. Does anyone have ritek/ridata media settings? I don't have old discs to test this on.

[iooi]

Does anyone have ritek/ridata media settings? I don't have old discs to test this on.

Are you taking about inner/outer dia settings ? If yes then its easier to take a ruler and measure the disk you have.
If you mean to alter the print postion then it will vary from printer to printer with no two printers being the same....
Best way i found to test print postion is to take the clear disk you get at top and bottom of a spindle and just set epson print cd to print two circles onto it. One just out side inner dia and one just inside outter dia. Then just keep altering settings till all looks equal on disk. You can do this many times as the ink just rubs off.

[nick101181]

I was talking about the outside diameter. Thanks I'll give this a try.