Printable DVDs

[Silent Shark]

I've just bought a new batch of DVD-Rs which are 'Inkjet Printable'. I've seen these before, because they've been around for a while, but I've never actually tried them.

My question is how do I go about using them? Do I need a special printer or is there some sort of holder that I use that acts as a piece of 'paper' for normal printers?

I don't do a lot of DVD burning, but it would be nice to get some decent labels on the ones I do make. I have a LabelFlash drive, but I've tried those and the results are a bit disappointing.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[Saracen]

The only way I'm aware of using these is via a printer that has a CD printing facility. That's certainly how I do it.

[chrestomanci]

Most cannon inkjets come with an extra tray for printable DVDs or CDs. You put them in one at a time and then select that tray from the windows driver. There is usually no facility to print onto a stack of DVDs, so you need to feed each one in in turn. If you will be printing lots of dics, you might consider buying a cheap model just for them, as you should be able to get one for £40 or so.

You can also get special printers that can be loaded up with a big stack, but they are expensive and only worth while if you are producing loads as part of a business (eg publicity CDs).

An alternative would be to use labels and a label applicator. The applicators are not hard to use, and produce a neat result. If you have lots of discs to lablel you will be able to print up a stack of labels, and then put them on discs later while you are watching TV or suchlike.

[Funkstar]

Printing directly onto the disk is far nicer than any label.

We have an epson at work, R200 i think. only used it a couple of time smyself, but you get some lovel outputs, with a really silky finish.

[merdat]

I would not mind if someone could print a example of one of these directly printed dvd.s/cd/s. My printer is an old beast and does not have the capability to do it, but as I use these printable cd anyway it may be an idea for me to buy a printer for purpose.

[Saracen]

I'm not sure what printing an example will achieve. Exactly what you get will depend on precisely which printable disc you use, and on what printer you print on.

I use some discs which have a white printable surface rather similar to a matt finish photo paper, and an Epson 2100 A3 photo printer. This is a fairly old machine, but nonetheless, a high quality one and it produces very high quality prints on the CD. But if you use a different CD blank and/or different printer, you'll get different results. For instance, I also have silver printables, and some with a glossy type of coating.

All I can say is that a decent printer and the right blanks can produce impressive results.

[merdat]

Well I have a Epson photo 895 which was a very good printer but old and can't tell you what media I am using. The Epsom will not print direct. Let's put it this way If I want a picture of my yacht on the disc , will I see a nice colour pic or will it be like a 'hologram'.

[Re-Invented]

A nice clean picture if you use a good cd printer i use an epson R360

Lee

[s_kinton]

I use lightscribe to do all my labelling. If you don't want colour, just text or a picture, then its quick and easy.

[KBeee]

There are 2 types of "Inkjet Printable" CD/DVD's.
1. Silver, like a normal DVD, but but coated with a printable surface that stops the ink beading
and
2. White, which acts exactly like normal inkjet paper.

If you're talking about the white printable surface kind of disks, then whatever you print on it will be as good or as bad as if you'd printed it onto a heavy gauge paper.

I dunno what the printing will be like on a silver printable disk, cos I've never used them.

[Stanman]

Well I have a Epson photo 895 which was a very good printer but old and can't tell you what media I am using. The Epsom will not print direct. Let's put it this way If I want a picture of my yacht on the disc , will I see a nice colour pic or will it be like a 'hologram'.

I dont think the 895 can print on to cd.

[Bob Crabtree]

Check out this page in a review on lifestyle, to see a comparison of discs prints from LiteScribe and a Canon inkjet.