General questions on printable DVDs, lables, printers

Having 4 small kids in the house I had to backup DVDs to preserve the originals. I used AnyDVD and CloneDVD (always updated) and Sony DRU500 for read and Plextor 708U (now 716U) for recording (always latest firmware) and the media was either Verbatim, Sony or TDK (all DVD+R). I also scanned the DVD and printed the image on Neato glossy paper (on an inkjet) and placed the lable on the DVD. The DVDs would play in my Pioneer Elite DV37 and then later start pixilating and stopping. I blamed the kids on rough handling, made new copies at lower speeds, different media etc. but the problem persisted. Finally I learned on this forum about the horror of the sticky lables on the DVDs!

So I want to print the images on the DVD itself and I see that some members here have done that but I am confused about the printable areas on the DVDs themselves. Do the Epson printers print all the way to the middle (we call that full face lable) or just to the large inner circle like a music CD (you know what I mean). Is this a DVD disc issue (if you can print to the inner hub) or a printer issue or software issue?

I am also confused about the white vs silver printable DVDs.
Any body using the Primera Signature Z6 printer?

Sorry for the general questions but this could help other members in the same dilema.

Quick answer to the Epson question - I have an Epson Stylus Photo 2100 and it will print full face DVDs. However...

The Epson Print CD software (bundled with the printer) will not allow an inner diameter of less than 40mm (what you call the large inner circle).

As a workaround I produced a template in Photoshop as follows:

Image size - 11.8cm x 11.8 cm @ 300dpi

Layer with Outer Circle diamater 11.8cm and Inner circle diameter 2.3cm - space between the outer and inner circle deleted so background shows through

Artwork fits on layer between this layer and background

Media type archival matte paper (not CD-R)
Orientation - Portrait

Image position:
0.5cm from top
1.34cm from left

I know that the Epson R200, R300, R300M and R320 will print to CD/DVDs(inkjet printable ones). The soft ware that comes with it can reset the inner and outer print areas. When finished printing it allows you to save the print area of that label along with the image. Mine is the R300, my brother in-law has all of them. ( he likes to have backups of his backups. lol)

Thank you for the responses especially the Photoshop trick. I looked at the Epson R800 ina computer store and its print quality is excellent. I asked an Epson representative in the store about full face printing and he said he has not figured out yet how to do it!

So I am seriously considering this printer just for the CD/DVD capabilities as I have the Epaon 2200 albeit it can't do CD/DVD printing like its European brother the 2100. I looked at the Primevera Z6 review and I am not sure if it offers any advantage over the Epson at twice the price. The new R800 has the archival quality inks to boot.

Update:
I bought the Epson R800 and I am setting it up for printing on CD/DVD (awaiting printable Verbatim to arrive tomorrow). I checked the Epson Web site and found this cautionary notice:
"Do not set the inner diameter at 21 mm, although EPSON Print CD allows you to set 21 mm. Printing the section inside of 43 mm may damage your CD/ DVD drive. "

How does printing to the hub (on hub printable) DVDs affect the CD/DVD drive?
Anybody with experience with the above?

If you print an unprintable area of the media it will just sit there in little clumps of liquid that wont dry for a long time. They probably figure the ink can fly off the media when spun and gum up the works of your drive

Actually I made this mistake one time, and the ink just created a bunch of radial lines about 2-10 mm long on the disc. This was for an inner diameter that was 3 mm too small. It was ugly, but nothing bad happened to the drive. (Plextor PX-708A.)

Hi

I have used the R800 for printing disc's. The output is excellant, you wont be disappointed. You need to print at the heavy ink setting. Cant remember what it was called but you will see in the printer dialog box what it is called.

The software that comes with it is totally lame.


As others have said you can setup a template in photoshop and import it into the epson software that came with it.

i didn't have photoshop , i had freehand 11, a vector art program. You can download a 30 trial of fully functional freehand 11 to try out. I have a template setup that is a freehand file. You just open the file in freehand and the template outlines are setup. You just put yor artwork inside the template lines and then print the file out to the R800 through th print command within freehand. this totally bypasses the epson software all together.

The tough bit was working out how to get my diagram in freehand to line up with the DVD on the R800 as you are outside the epson program doing it this way. I managed in the end and got it perfect. As i say the outlines are setup and locked so you cant move them . The outlines are setup as non printing on a locked layer. This means you just put your art work within the lines and it prints on yor dvd.


let me know if you want a copy of my freehand templates. then again you may decide to go the Photoshop route in which case my files wont help you ...of course.


regards

Mark

1. I use an Epson R200 and it prints on the entire inkjet printable surface of the disc. The minimum inner diameter allowed by the software is 20 mm. So yes, you can print full face DVDs on the entire printable surface.

2. Inkjet printed discs are vulnerable to water. If handled with wet hands, the ink will smear.

3. Silver and White inkjet printable discs just have a different 'background colour' but will perform the same, are compatible with the same printers, drives, etc.

4. Printing on the inner hub requires hub printable discs. You cannot print on the inner hub without hub printable discs.

5. Make sure you know the difference between inkjet printable, thermal printable, and everest printable. They are all separate and require their own kinds of printers. You cannot use one in another kind of printer. They are not burner specific, of course.

I am still working on the R800 to print Cds/DVDs. I have read all the on-line reviews I could find on the internet and few go into details about CD/DVD printing and some are inaccurate. A very good review at http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/int...800/page_1.htm claims "There is no facility to design a CD cover or insert in the software". So I was spending a lot of time designing a template in Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS. I later discoverd that in the Epson Print CD software has two options to get images into the software (Windows XP). One is via the clipboard (Copy from another application like Photoshop then paste into the Epson CD software) or via a TWAIN compatible scanner. I tried first to copy and paste and printed on a Memorex CDR and the quality was bad. I then scanned the same CD cover directly into the software and printed again and the quality (sharpness, colors, density) were all much better. Strangely, the manual says select Letter (11"x8.5" ) as paper size (and the screen shots in the manual shows that too) but the Epson printer driver and software has one setting of A4 size paper for printing on CD/DVD. So the software must have been developed for the European Market and the manula re-written (wrongly I presume) for the US market. Now I don't know how to set Photoshop or Illustrator.
I should be getting Verbatim hub printable DVDs soon and I will continue to experiment and report back.

I have been printing on discs since the R310 first came out (about a year now) and until reading through the forum, have never heard of these sorts of problems. The program Epsom Print CD easily allows you to change the inner and outer diameter to 20mm min and 120mm max out (In file--Inner/Outer Diameter Settings) anytime in literaly a couple of seconds!

As far as importing disc images I scan a disc, save as a jpeg, import as picture then resize to disc!

I have tried other programs (Surething CD Labeller for one) and they have the same sort of options!

I have printed to the minimum 20mm for a while now and the DVD players have so far showed no signs of spitting the dummy!

So in other words print away! I even use cheaper generic inks with no adverse effects. I have printed a lot of discs for lots of people and always get excellent feedback on quality and reliabilty. Never had one disc returned!

I would like to order an Epson R320 printer to print my photos and especially to print onto my DVD's....I do a lot of DVD burning...transfering old VHS home movies to DVD for the family and after a nightmare I had using real DVD labels that eventually killed every DVD I made for myself and family I had to look at other options. I had heard that printing directly to them was the only option that was safe. Can I get confirmation from you guys on this and has anyone used the R320 with problems? THanks.

epson r200 printer £64 from ebuyer, all software needed included
scan the covers and import into Epson print CD
or download covers from www.cdcovers.cc/covers.php

use verbatim full face plus printables, inner 20 outer 120 in the Epson print CD settings
wipe excess ink from inner/outer edges of printable disk with tissue 20 seconds after printing.

it's not hard, don't make such a meal out of it.

remove labels from your old disk by spraying with wd40, leave 5 mins, peel off label
wash disk in warm soapy water, rinse, pat dry with tissue. Disk will now play again.

Thank you for the tips.... ! I have about 100 dvd's that i have been afraid to throw out becuase they dont work from labeling...I will definately try the WD40 route on a couple to see how it works for me.

Was at Sam's the other day, they had the Epson R200 priced at $79.00.
No rebates etc.

If you need something to practice on use the clear plastic discs that are on top and or bottom of spindles, put a stick on lable on it and set your printer up using these. Also set the darkness of the ink to light so as not to use up your ink supply.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GREATFULL I AM FOR THIS POST!!!!

I've been copying a bunch of old camcorder and VHS tapes and copying out to DVD. Then I'd test each one in my set top player, and after it played just fine I'd stick a nice colorfull label on the disk. It was only after I started having problems playing them later I did research and found this forum.

At least now I can salvage the disks. I was afraid I'd have to go back to the source tapes and reconvert them. Of course since I didn't find the forum until after I'd already recorded a bunch of disks on HP branded media... which I've since learned is the CMC AM3 grabage!

Thanks to the forum I've orded 100 TY Printable DVD-R to get me started. Now I'll just go find me a good deal on an Epson with a CD tray.

didolgi, welcome to CDFreaks!

You're replying to an old thread, and the user (sarahjh69) who posted that message hasn't been online here for almost three months, so don't expect an answer anytime soon.

I never knew about that WD40 trick either . . . cool.

After reading the reports on this forum regarding adhesive disk labels I decided to try for myself just to see what happened.

An almost full DVD made from digital camcorder tapes which had 10 clips and a full menu structure and which had played correctly on numerous occasions was selected for labeling. The label from an Aidata CD/DVD labeling kit was used and appeared to adhere without any problems and as near to "centered" as possible.

When I tried to play the DVD by using the Disk Menu only the first two menus would work correctly. I tried several times with the same result.

I then removed the label, reinserted the disk and it once again worked 100%. It now looks like I have rejoined the "NO Label Club".

As I will eventually be transferring 50 years! of film, VHS camcorder, and digital camcorder to DVD is it worth while getting a Canon Pixma IP4200 which can print direct to printable DVDs or will I still have troubles. I do see that comments are generally favourable [about 6 threads lower] but any other specific advice on direct printing are welcome. I will be using the NERO software.

It amazes me to think how some people come up with things like this. For instance - "If you drink WD40, you can fart fire!". Lol, I mean who was the first human to ever look at a cow and think "maybe I can squeeze the pink bits down below and drink whatever comes out"

Any body want to lend me your brain for a few minutes?
I can't get my brain to figure this out?

If I print on a printable disc, do I make the inner diameter # larger or smaller to correct the ink from printing 1/8" onto the transparent hub?

My brain says that you should increase the inner diameter by 1/8" (or more).

Bigger...B I G G E R

LOL