DVD Printing help

[planecrazy.eu]

Hi

I am looking for a DVD printing solution, that on the whole is pretty professional to look at quality wise, like ones you'd get from shops, etc.

To confirm, your not helping me setup a pirate production line ;)...

What its for is a school play/production DVD that I am helping the school produce as they've never done it before, and neither have I. They want the product to look good, and have charged £9.99 so my guess is parents will be expecting good too.

We have over 100 orders now, and they are all eager, but no equipement to product these DVDS!

So, can anyone throw some solutions my way, and keep budget in mind as the less the stuff costs, the more the school gets to pocket.

Was looking at printers with CD/DVD printing tray, but the quality looks kind of questionable, but this might have been the printer or the setup.

Someone also told me you can get sprays to make the print look more professional?

Thanks for any help, advice, and all that.

[hellsbrink]

I used to have an Epson printer with tray for DVD/CD printing and I have to say I had no issues with the quality of the printing. As usual, imo, it's going to come down to the quality of the disks and the quality of the image being printed.

Obviously don't "cheap out" on disks, buy decent brand ones (like Verbatim) and you should be able to print photo quality on them. Going by what you are saying you should be able to get them at a reasonable price as you will be buying 100+ (remember to allow for wastage!!) so you'll be left with the cost of the printer and ink. I reckon there will be no issue with the school making a profit, including the costs of DVD cases and the printing of the "sleeve", but you also have to remember the time you will take to print everything.

This printer should do the trick for you (around £130)

Epson Stylus Photo PX650 - Inkjet. Technical Specifications and Overview (http://www.epson.co.uk/Printers-and-All-In-Ones/Inkjet/Epson-Stylus-Photo-PX650)


It may be that a local print shop could do you a deal as well, it's worth checking out.

[cats_five]

An alternative to printing DVDs is LightScribe. You need a suitable burner (you can get both IDE and SATA ones) and DVDs (but you need suitable DVDs to print them), but the results can look impressive so long as your art-work is OK.

LightScribe | An Easy Guide (http://www.lightscribe.co.uk/)

Suspect this might be cheaper at least initially than buying a printer, unless you can get a decent 2nd hand one.

[42psi]

I use canon IP4600 which has a draw/holder for printing on CD/DVD's which have a special white finish for inket printers.

Have also used the "stick-on" printer sheets where you print onto an A4 sheet and then stick the label onto the disc.

You do have to take care with this that it goes on neatly and that it's all securely stuck - don't want it coming loose while playing :(


I also have and sometimes use lightscribe ... it is handy BUT .. it's limited in it's colour range .. basically it etches the design onto the special disks.

Last time I used it you basically etched a greyish/brown design onto the disk .. means you have to choose the design carefully as all you really get are shades of the same colour.

If all you want is a simple title and maybe a single logo etc, it would work well and the only additional cost is the extra for the special disks.

Think I did read somehwere they were trying to update it so the colour range was expanded .. not sure if they did.

ps .. just checked .. they did .. you can now get the disks in different colours .. but .. it still looks like the finished article is limited in the colour range it can produce .. it doesn't look like you get for example a single picture going from say pure white to deep red and maybe yellow ..


LightScribe | An Easy Guide (http://www.lightscribe.co.uk/)

[hellsbrink]

The sticky on label method is a pain in the bum, and, obviously, they can come loose no matter how good you are at fitting them. The havoc that can cause with a regular caddy-type, dvd player is obvious but those who have slot-type players (the ones that don't have a caddy for the disk) are more at risk of damage due to the nature of the mechanism used (the labels can be pulled loose easily in them things).

I guess it all depends on the type of label needed. I would personally go down the "printable disk" route as you have far more options over Lightscribe and it's a far better finish compared to sticky labels. But that's just me

[cats_five]

After a bit more thought, assuming you have to buy either a printer or a lightscribe burner:

Lightscribe:
Pros - cheaper to get a burner than a suitable printer, known costs per DVD as the process won't use up printer ink
Cons - artwork has to be simple but then that IMHO is a pro as well - less is more and all that!

Printable DVDs:
Pros - more colours available, just the excuse you are looking for if you want a new printer or all-in-one!
Cons - could use a lot of expensive ink

Stick-on labels - don't go there

[Bern Oulli]

I print my CDs and DVDs using an old Epson PHOTO 900 printer. Print quality is excellent but you do have to dick around with the printer colour correction slider as the printed disk tends to be lighter than if you printed on to photo paper. Nudging the slider a couple of notches towards "darker" works for me. I second the remarks about sticky labels. A snare and a delusion they are.

[eticket]

Right here's my long-winded tuppence around the topic.

1. Paper stick-ons used to be the norm for CDs. They aren't for DVDs. You may come across comments such as 'the labels put the DVDs out of balance'. I have no idea if that is true, however as everyone else has said just ignore stickies.

2. DIY.

Duplication of the disks. For a run of 100 it won't be economical for you to go to a professional duplicator for a glass master and duplication from that. (Usually this kicks in at runs of 500+.)

So you will have to do the duplication yourself on DVD+R or DVD-R disks that have a Printable Surface. Verbatim are the usual brand on the high street but there are other choices by mail-order. Go for a good brand, though even then you can be unlucky. Find out which ones the duplicating companies are currently using - heck you could always buy the blanks from them.

Now the big problem with DIY is making sure that the copies will play on most computers and most stand alone DVD players. You will have to do lots of checks of your copies. From the same tub of 'Verbatim' I have had disks that will play on both, will only play on stand-alones and others that would only play on computers. Weird, but that problem is out there.

If you borrow a mass duplicator tower then don't worry about getting one that has too many drives as the limit on your work flow may well be on how quickly you can print the DVDs. So a 1:4 duplicator may well be fine. As others have said, you will need to buy more than 100 blanks as there will be duff copies, either at the recording or the printing stage. If you duplicate onto DVD-Rs you might need some DVD+Rs in reserve just in case some Parents can't play, or think that they can't play, the DVD-Rs.

Printing: Others have mentioned a number of printers and my experience has been with Epson, (because they were the only 'domestic' machines around when I first needed to print onto DVDs.) I understand that more recent models that others have mentioned may be quicker to print a DVD than the older ones like the R200 and the R300 that I have used. When I first started using these R printers and Verbatim disks I tried to use third party inks and sometimes the Colours worked, but I could never find a Black that stayed Black. (Printing on paper was fine but when printing on the Verbatims the ink faded or didn't 'take'.) From then on I have always used original Epson inks and they are pricey but they have never let me down.

The ink on the disk can be smudged by wet fingers etc. So after printing the disk it is possible to spray a fixer onto the top surface to guard against this. I can't give you any advice on this as I have never done this, but perhaps I should try it.

Cases: Your problem here is the parental expectation on presentation. ie if you provide them with a case with a non-transparent front then you will probably have to go to the extra time & expense of designing and printing an outer wrap for the case - to insert between the clear film outer and the black plastic. It will look good but could you get away with buying clear cases so the label on the DVD can be read through the case?

If you can then there are three choices. The traditional clear plastic DVD case (some are clearer than others though), the CD clear Jewel case or the paper envelope with a see through front. Don't buy the CD Jewel case if the DVDs are to be posted, as they are far more likely to break in the post and thus generate complaints than the traditional DVD cases. Paper envelopes are fine, but parents may feel that they are paying for a proper case.

3. Put the printing of the label and supply of the blanks out to a commercial duplicator. Note I am not including the duplication aspect here, merely the printing and the supply of the blanks.

I was recently quoted £0.89 per DVD (plus VAT and Delivery) for the supply and printing (without duplication) of 400 DVDs (either +R or -R). This will get you quality printing and ink fixing/spraying and you can then do the duplication yourself. However if you divide delivery and VAT costs by 100 then the cost per unit mounts up. You may end up ordering too many, or far worse, fewer than you need.

To sum up your choices are really about minimising the inevitable complaints whilst giving yourself options for the economical supply of the 115th copy should it be needed.

Finally and very very importantly if there is any copyright music etc. included on the DVD, either directly or via the cast singing it, then someone will need to make sure that any necessary permissions and any appropriate fees have been obtained/paid. Permissions obtained for using the music in the live performance may not extend to the selling of copies of the same live performance. I don't know how this works in a school context, so maybe some others can give you some better advice or tell me that I am spouting rubbish!.

Good luck.

[Bushfiva]

I have a cheap Casio DVD printer. The disk is loaded like a standard DVD drive. It can only really do text titling, in one of four colors depending on the thermal ribbon that is loaded. Black prints fastest for some reason.

I can print a hundred disks in a couple of hours, and it's never made a duff print. By choosing media with a suitable base color (I deliberately don't use white "printable" media), the final disks look pretty close to standard distribution media: not much shop-bought product has pretty pics on the disks themselves, that goes on the case inserts.

[Capn Bloggs]

Print them in a good ink-jet. Some considerations:

Watershield/resistant disks:

Taiyo Yuden/JVC WaterShield - 50 x DVD-R - 4.7 GB 16x - white - ink jet printable surface - spindle - storage media (http://irjinc.com/stores/item_B0015EMZU8.html)

or use a spray:

DVD cover design and DVD label printing (http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?15811-DVD-cover-design-and-DVD-label-printing&p=132850&viewfull=1#post132850)

If you duplicate onto DVD-Rs you might need some DVD+Rs in reserve just in case some Parents can't play, or think that they can't play, the DVD-Rs.
The best option for player compatibility is to use DVD+R and change the booktype to "DVD-ROM". Some burners do it automatically, some need to be set manually through your burning software. Here's an article explaining it:

Increased compatibility: DVD bitsetting | MyCE – My Consumer Electronics (http://www.myce.com/article/Increased-compatibility-DVD-bitsetting-216/)