Do a search, right here, for the Epson R200. This is an inkjet printer, you can find for about $89. if lucky and $99. retail. If you never buy ink for it again and throw it away, you can still print about 140 to 150 DVDs for that price. If you're lucky, you can find off-brand ink refills starting at about $30. Prints VERY good for what it is.

Yes, if you want to go the do-it-yourself route, you can even pick up a refurbished unit direct from Epson for $77 and free shipping. People really seem to like this printer for DVDs.

The Epson 200 is definitely the way to go. Print something colorful on the disc, put it into a clear jewel box and you won't have to print any kind of case liner. The disc does it all.

Jack

We bought two refurbs, thanks to a post here like this one. We love em'. Found ink at Costco for a great price too. They are a great printer, finding quality white DVDs is a little more challenging, but we finally found a good outlet for them, strangely enough they sent us to their ebay store. (Gemini Media)

I buy Verbatim and Ritek printable DVD media from Meritline.com.

I believe that Costco has the R300 printers on "sale" right now for $99.

John

I've never done this with DVD's, but, do it all the time with CD-R's. I use the Avery clear label and my Canon I960 deskjet to create a label that I paste onto a plain, reflective CD-R Verbatim disk. Don't know if they make this sort of blank media in DVD format, but the result is very professional looking. All costs compared, my method is certainly no cheaper than printable media (well, then again, I don't know about that, perhaps someone can fill in the blanks . . . the media I use is around $30/100 discs - 50 labels for $26.00 and labor to print and apply them . . . I've never shopped for the R200 or its ink or printable media - how do my costs compare?).

Applying these labels requires you to acquire a technique to avoid bubbles - but, once mastered, the results will leave your clients scratching their heads as to how you got such a professional look.

Again, if you can't find plain reflective media in DVD format, this suggestion isn't valid.

My main reason for not jumping onto the very tempting R200 bandwagon is that the resultant discs that I've seen all seem to have a very dull "matte" type finish and look to them. The Avery label starts off looking sort of "matte-ish", but, as the adhesive "cures", takes on a sheen that makes the label barely distinquishable as such. I am very fond of the look, and my clients seem impressed by it..

Good luck. Let us know what you finally decide to go with.

Caruso

We do the same but spray the disk with CD/DVD lacquer. Excellent smudge free finish. We have a small dupicating tower, good for CD and DVD although the Bravo units looks pretty good but you need to get a lot of work to justify the expense.
Bob.

We do the same but spray the disk with CD/DVD lacquer. Excellent smudge free finish.

================================

What kind of lacquer do you use? And, how do you keep from getting it on the print side. I'm assuming you put the disc onto a table or some surface to spray onto, but it could sneek under.

Steve

I've been doing the label thing for several years now, and unlike many here I've had great success with playability. Nonetheless, if and when a direct-print option becomes mature and successful, I'll be happy to switch, if for no other reason than simply to speed up the production process.

But I have also been led to believe that the quality one gets is still not so good. So I have a request: I would VERY MUCH appreciate it if someone who is doing the direct-print thing could mail to me a representative sample, and in turn I would be happy to mail one of my adhesive-labelled disks back for the purpose of comparison. If I had my option I would ask for a regular DVD-R printed with one of the Epson printers, and perhaps also one with the lacquer spray and/or some other overlay so I could see for myself how that technique helps with the smear issue.

Anybody interested? Your DVD can be blank or have some video on it; either way, I'd be very grateful for the education.

If you drop a line at riredaleatemail.com I can send out one of my disks and the address.

Thanks.

That probably won't help much for comaprison, even a diffrent brand of media can have a huge impact on what the final print will look like. We have tested pretty much every inkjet printable discs out there. The Verbatims work really good with the Signature Pro printers. Maxell has a little more of a "glossy" look to them, but we had some issues with burning so we stuck to the verbatims. At home I have the Epson R200 and I use the Ritek G08 discs where you can print all the way to the inner hub of the disc and I get great results with them without having to spray them with laquer or any other strange stuff like that.

Hey Spot,
Did a search on Ebay for "Gemini Media" but can't find them. Can you provide a link please?
TIA,
Randy

Another vote here for the Epson R200. Tip: set the print saturation to -1. Saves on ink plus I found a lighter touch looks better for skin tones.

Great tip, MNJ! I never would have thought to reduce the saturation, and it looks just the same on the darker colors. We go thru a lot of black, this should help.

Boy, if I have to type this out again I'm gonna ask for a commission:

Color Protection Spray.
www.discprint.com

Disc Print B.V.
Radioweg 36-38
1324 KP Almere
The Netherlands

Doesn't smell much, good for photoes too. I believe the commercial artcoat machines use much the same stuff. Dries in seconds.

Tel: +31 (0)36 - 538 70 90

I buy it in Oz from:
www.capax.com.au

We use cutdown empty spindles to hold the DVDs while we spray (thanx to someone from here). Doing it this way never get anything on the other side.

I use an Epson Stylus Photo 900 for printing, one of the first that'd print CDs, now a defunct model I think but still a nice printer.

No, I meant the disc is around $1.50. Everything else is additional.

I recently did a 100 disc project for church that was printed with one of HP's LiteScribe machines. They really look good.The images are laser etched on to the disc.