DVD Burning + Printing Methods

[planecrazy.eu]

Hey All

First thing i will say is, this is not a post to help me set up some pirating ring to produce fake dvds :)

What I want to do, is Burn my daughters nativity type play onto DVD, I recorded it myself, and have all the permissions, etcs...

I have the raw data on my machine, and pretty much have the whole burn process sorted out...

I need to now print the discs, but what is the best method?

I have seen printers and labels, but they look a little (fake), and i want to go for a more (real) look...

So how would one go about printing, and making it look like i havnt just printed it of my printer?

I was thinking maybe there is another printing method, or glossy spray, etc?

I dont have a CD printer, so have to buy some equipement anyway, selling at £6 a DVD and having over 50 orders so far, i can afford to spend around £150-£200...

[P.Pilcher]

Whn I print out photographs on my trusty (now repaired) Epson 925 photo printer, they look like the real thing. I have been using special self adhesive CD labels now for many years to produce my own audio CD's and am delighted with the results. It is essential to acquire a centering tool to apply these labels correctly, and the one I use looks like a plastic toadstool. The "stalk" pops through the hole in the CD/DVD and the label is then centered by passing it over the "head" over which it just fits.

Appropriately designed labels incorporating photographs usually printed on glossy photo paper are then added to the jewel/DVD case as appropriate. All you need for this is some label desiging software of which there is loads about - but for this I use an ancient version of CorelDraw.
Professionally, images are applied to CD/DVDs by silk screening which is nice and cheap if you want large quantities (1000 up). There are also available CD/DVDs with a printable top surface. There are also printers available in to which you can put such a CD/DVD for printing. You may care to investigate these.

P.P.

[BOAC]

I'm getting pretty reasonable printed CD/DVD faces from an Epson RX560 which is an 'All-in-one' USB printer/scanner/copier. Appears to be 'obsolete' now (1 year old!!). Fair amount of software and printable disks around to help.

[Background Noise]

Tried all those and they are mostly fine. If using labels, get decent quality paper that will take a high res image, compatible with you printer. You should be able to find suitable add-ons for your printing software to match the labels eg Avery J8xxx or whatever.

Lots of printers now also print direct onto discs but the discs need to be 'printable' - they have a coating which takes the ink, and they are not much more expensive. Any such printer will have software with it for sorting out the layout etc. You can get a good quality multifunction device (printer/scanner/copier) with CD printing for around £100.

I too have a RX560 and have had very good results on CDs and DVDs.

BOAC - I've had a Canon Pixma MP610 highly recommended by a friend. Better, he says, than his epson, prints both sides, has front (which saves desk space) and rear paper trays and does CDs. Quite tempted, and I haven't bought a printer for at least, ooh, 6 months!

[BOAC]

Yes, the Pixma came 'highly rec' on a thread here a while ago on the topic of all-in-ones

[planecrazy.eu]

Thanks for all the help...

I will start doing some research on a printer... Like the sound of printing direct, less messing around...

I have noticed you can get glossy or matt discs to print on, and a spray...

Might get a label pack as a first step too see how they turn out, then go for the printer in the near future when i have done some looking around...