How do i get the same embossed effect that mainstream movies have on there dvd’s? Right now whenever i burn a dvd for myself i use glossy printed labels.
I’m buring a kodak photo dvd now and i would like the solid embossed effect on that. so if anyone knows how that would be great.
i’ve heard of thurmal printing but not sure what that is.
thanks
Commercial DVDs and CDs are silk-screen printed. You can get machines to do that but they are very expensive.
However Verbatim make glossy printable DVD blanks which look pretty good if your printer will directly print to disc.
Thermal printing uses a special printer with ribbons and a thermal head to transfer the ink. The cheaper ones are only available in black & white, or if in colour only as a single shade, as far as I know.
One last thing: you say you’re using printed labels? This could be a bad thing in the long-term and perhaps make your discs unusable eventually. Unless they are centred correctly they can unbalance a disc and make reading a problem towards the outer edge. Sometimes the adhesive can pull the disc out of alignment, which results in the same thing.
Using my Epson R300 to print on the cd/dvd surface, and scanning in the image directly from a CD/DVD that I’m copying, once it dries, the ONLY way you can tell the difference, is the very thin white line at the edge of the dvd.
Labels are not the way to go (IMO).
At first they might work, but as the labels age they shrink and warp the disk. A few members have commented that good quality labels minimize this problem, but I think with age, even these labels shrink and dry up.
The Thermal printing route is the most professional, but MOST costly.
Your second best option (IMO) is to purchase printable disks and use a printer such as the Epson R300 as suggested by harley2ride. This is the option I use, and I’ve found most people do not even notice that the DVD’s are copies. The only additional drawback is that the ink can leak if gotten wet.
Your third option is to go the lightscribe route (if you have a lightscribe DVD writer), this option takes a long time to write to a DVD and you do not get colors. In addition I have heard that the lightscibe fades with time and under sunlight.
When all is said and done (IMO), printable disks are the way to go because they produce an acceptable quality, are the most cost effective and take much less time than lightscribe.
the replies have been really helpfull thanks. also does anyone know where i can get an epson r300 still? i’m based in the uk but any ideas would be handy. ebay there are a few. but mainly any stores that are still selling it? thanks
Being in the UK, I suggest you look at the Canon printers as well. There are quite a few Canon printers that have the CD/DVD print tray option, and they are every bit as good as the Epson (I have both). And for me, my Canon ink is cheaper by far, than the Epson ink…
I have both a epson 220 and epson320 and they work great. The one thing with both that they do not tell you is that they have a protection counter that counts the use of the waste ink pad which is in the bottom of the printer. When the counter gets to a number that epson has set it will tell you to look at the book which in turn will tell you to call epson. Epson will tell you that you need to send it to a service person to replace the pads. There is a easy fix. Here is what I got offline on this and I installed the external holder for the excess ink in less than five min. on mine and used the steps below to reset the counter on the 320. for the 220 I had to use a program asg service untility which you can also download. It is a lot cheaper than paying epson to replace the pads.
As Epson printer users will know, waste ink from head cleaning etc. is channeled into absorbent pads in the base of the printer.
Eventually these will fill up and need to be replaced, and some time before they actually fill the waste ink counter in the printer’s firmware will signal an error and the machine won’t print any more until the counter is reset.
This normally requires a trip to the service depot (if the printer’s worth the cost, and if it’s realised that this is the problem – lots of otherwise good printers go to the dump through this relatively minor problem.)
The service depots have a program that can, among other things, reset this counter (but of course won’t part with it – there’s money to be made, new pads to be sold…)
There’s a third-party utility available that can do this (look for sscserve.exe on the 'net – carefully read the documentation and use it with great care…), but at the same time the pads need to be changed, otherwise you risk ink pooling in the base, sometimes finding its way out and making a right mess.
Replacing the pads isn’t for the faint-hearted, you have to virtually dismantle the printer to reach them.
Here’s how to get around it – the two pictures below are almost self-explanatory:
On the left rear of these printers is a small trapdoor held by a single screw.
Remove it, look inside (down and to your left) and you’ll see the waste ink tube.
The tube is free at one end, and with a suitably curved piece of wire you can hook it and wangle the end out through the opening (you may dislodge a small piece of plastic in the process – just put it back where it was, it’s only a vibration damper.)
At this point, you’re almost there.
All you need now is a suitable container for the waste ink, and to file a small slot in the trapdoor cover so you can put it back without pinching the tube (or you could just lave it off.)
The container in the photo is a small square one with a snap-on lid, approx. 60mm square and holding about 150ml – they’re sold in sets of three for a few cents and are for making ice-blocks etc. in your freezer.
Make a hole in the lid as shown (slightly larger than the tube to let air escape) insert the tube and forget about the internal pads forever.
(I’ve used a new machine for the photos, don’t expect the tube in yours to look so clean.)
I think those new AquaGuard disks look promising. No smearing after the print.
This one should probably be transferred to ‘CD & DVD Printing and Labelling’ sub-forum…
wow i never knew that about the epson. i understand why it happens but it’s alot of work. i may look into the canon printers as suggested by harley2ride
It is not hard to do the mod on the epson and it is a great printer have two
I don’t get the thin white line?
Maybe it depends on your settings? Like 119 for the outer?
