I can't get Label Maker to print on printable CDs or DVDs. How do I do this?

This is from the V9 help files but I would think it would be similar for V7/7.5

<h2 class="pHeading1">Printing directly onto discs </h2> If your printer prints directly onto discs, it will appear in the menu for paper selection during the print process. Be sure to use only discs supported by your printer; you cannot use regular CDs or DVDs. It’s also important that you set up your printer according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

<a name="wp1168827"> Follow the instructions for printing as if you were printing to paper

All well and good - but what do you when your printer model is not in the list of label types ?
I recently purchased the HP Photosmart 5160, and when I try to print CD/DVD's - the HP is not listed in the available label types. Using 'Generic Plain Paper' gets me the printer complaining that the CD tray is open. Closing it gets me the nice label printed on a sheet of plain paper, but that's not helping me get the print onto the CD/DVD. <G> Anyone have any success printing CD/DVD's with the HP 5160 ??

Any help would be most graciously appreciated!!
Wolfy

Does your printer's manual specificly say it can print CD/DVD's? If so, you would have the tray used for the optical discs, etc. It's not like you put it in the paper tray and the printer treats it like paper, there are differences.

Lynn

Lynn, I have the HP D5160. It does print directly to CD/DVD. I have not used label maker for it, but use another product. I assume at this point that Roxio does not have a template or other update to be able to use the HP like it can the Epsons. The product I use did have a template update to be able to print on it.

marlinsinger,

Why don't you explain that to Xyberwolf, since he is the one that's trying to print to
CD/DVD with this printer in this program. There won't be a update to 7.5 so letting him know the 3rd party program shouldn't be a problem. Unless someone here makes it so.

cdanteek

He's probably using the software that came with his HP printer for printing labels on the CD/DVDS.

In Label Creator, under the Page Setup you can adjust where the printer will print and I've used that when I bought 'odd' labels. However, it's a royal pain to experiment with plain paper until you get the right area to print. I also don't know if it will work in this situation.

No - I'm using Roxio 7.5 Label Creator to print to the HP!
If you try to print 'plain paper' with the DVD tray open, the printer throws an error because the DVD tray is open and can't use the 'plain paper' tray. So I can't even get to the 'experimenting' part!

Ok - you both have me confused, but let me see if I get the jist of it:
a.) HP printer is new, so Roxio 7.5 doesn't know what it is.
b.) Setting the printer to print labels to paper and dinking with the postions should work
c.) There won't be an update for LC 7.5 - so it will never work with the HP printing directly to the DVD.

Hmm - Sounds like I'm not going with Roxio anymore - they update too often and aren't supporting older versions all that great. (Forgive rant mode: All the blasted companies are getting too bloody greedy! Epson, HP, Roxio, etc. - they want a good chunk of change for products that shouldn't have been released yet, don't work, won't fix it, won't support it and want arms and legs for features and ink that should be easily available. /RANT OFF) Ok, I feel better.

Thanks folks for the 'answer' - I'm off to search for a more 'reliable' solution, both for printer/inks and for CD/DVD media authoring!

As far as printing to CD with 7.5, that is probably true that there will not be an update. I suspect that is also true of 8. As Label Creator is not the main portion of the software, that is what I would expect.
Yes the software that came with the printer will print to CD/DVD itself. I don't happen to use it as it is somewhat limited.
As to what I use, hope I don't get into trouble for mentioning it, is Surething. It is for only CD/DVD labeling and printing, including Lightscribe. They created templates for the new printer.

Sorry. I was referring to marlinsinger who said that another program was successful in printing to the CD\DVDs with the HP printer. I don't know anything about the program mentioned in the last post, but you might want to check it out.

I thought that HP provided printing software with their printers and that would probably be the best software to print onto the disks. HP has some pretty good 'how to's' on their website so you might want to check it out.

EMC 7 has been out for some time now and I know that when I bought it, printing on CDs was pretty new.

It is pretty frustrating with software manufacturers preferring to sell new versions every year instead of providing some longer term updating of existing products. A new version most every year seems to be the new software business model for many programs.
I have and use an Epson R320 for printing onto inkjet printable optical media. I use the software program provided by Epson for this purpose and it works great. Naturally, if I wanted to be able to include some of the material already sitting in the .jwl, using this separate program means reentering all that manually.

If you are determined to get the label creator program to print to your new HP5160 on printable optical media, we can probably create a new "page file" (.jwp) to load into the program to help label creator recognize your HP printers capabilities. It is a bit of a cumbersome process and entails modifying some driver tables and experimenting with printable media in your program/printer, but it probably can be done. For example, the .jwp I created to teach my ECDC7 to print to hub printable inkjet media on my Epson R320 looks like this:

[Page Description]
/* Internationalize everything after name = (that line only)*/
Name= stringRef:EpsonR300Hub
Paper Height = 29.7
Paper Width = 21.59
Number of Views = 1
; 1 for print directly to disc
Print Type = 1

[View Info 1]
View Type = Disc

[Disc Info 1]
Offset = 7.40 6.62
Inner Radius = 1.1
Outer Radius = 5.80

But, after making this up and updating appropriately, I find I do not use it, as I really like the way the program Epson supplied works.

I too liked the way the Epson software worked. What I did not like was the way the Epson worked. Leaks and uses far too much ink, mainly leaks. Had 2 different models, both did the same. Had a R260, printed 6 DVD's, of which 3 had full color backgrounds, and about 3 pages of print, no pictures and cartridges at that point were down to half full. The printers just weren't worth the hassle with ink. So far with the D5160, no problem like that. And just as good of print quality. Also if you go to another printer, that software will not work with it. That is why I went with the software I did. It is designed to work with multiple printers. Also future versions will be printer non-specific.

Thanks guys!
I appreciate the help and advice!
I had discovered the .jwp files, and noting what they had done in the Eprosn R220 - I was thinking of taking that as a 'starting point' and seeing how far I could go with altering the numbers to get the program to work with the HP. Hopefully, that's all I'll have to do is alter the existing numbers - if I have to go change other files, I'm not going to know where to even start.
I found the R220 printer to be as described earlier - uses too much ink, leaks, clogs way to easily. The R260 seems to be a 're-hash' of the R220, but it's so new, there's no ink cartridges for it.
At least with the HP I can easily find carts for it, or even refill the ones I have if need be.
The .jwl files would be nice if there was a way you could 'save it to .jpg' or something to make conversion easier, but as it is, the spouse has about 20-30 labels already created and I was told that if I didn't find a way to make it so she could print them out on the new printer - it was made clear, under no uncertain terms, that I'd be walking around 'missing something very near and dear to me'. So...
Here's hoping I get those numbers right! <G>
I'll also check out the software you mentioned and see if that will help too..

Thanks again, and wish me luck!

LOL. I sure hope you get it to work. There's nothing worse than an angry spouse.

I'm sorry you've had such disappointing results using your Epson R2xx printer. I've been running my R320 for about a year now - with excellent results. Ink usage seems typical to me, no leaks, and truly excellent looking results on quality printable optical media. The only issue has to do with the printer somtimes getting a bit finicky with the plastic tray the optical media sits in for printing, but I've learned how to deal with that also.

Following is some generic information I had sitting around which might be of some help to you.
--------------------------------------------------

Roxio EMC7
Themes and Label Formats – Modifying entries and Adding New
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not aware of any sources for new themes or label formats, etc.
But, you can create your own by inserting pictures and text boxes in the current themes.
And you can create your own themes by manipulating the source files.
You can also do that with label format files.

Theme Files:
These are .lth files and found in:
Program Files/Roxio/Easy Media Creator 7/Label Creator/Themes

Label Format Files:
These are .jwp files and found in:
Program Files/Roxio/Easy Media Creator 7/Label Creator/Page files
These files can be opened in Notepad.

You might try opening one which looks similar to the theme you want to create and modify its parameters, saving under a new name. The .lth files reference other image files you must ensure exist also. I expect some experimentation will be required to get things set up correctly for your new theme. The .lth file formats are pretty complicated, so you might be better off making an actual Label file inside Label Creator and just saving it for later use. The .jwp files look more straightforward, but experimentation will surely be required to get a new one to work.

Roxio EMC7
Printing to hub printable media with Epson R200/300/320 printers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
compliments of alldrittg:
After installing Easy Media Creator 7 I discovered that I could not print in the hub area of hub printable discs. After some investigation I discovered the following method, in this case for using an EPSON R200 but the same technique should work for any media type. This does require editing a couple of files, but it is easy to do. That said I suggest you back up the second file before you edit it just in case there are problems.

There are a number of files in the C:\Program Files\Roxio\Easy Media Creator 7\Label Creator\page files folder which define print media / device settings.

Copy the file "EpsonStylus960R300.jwp" to "EpsonStylusR300Hub.jwp".
Edit the new file using Notepad to look as follows :-

[Page Description]
/* Internationalize everything after name = (that line only)*/
Name= stringRef:EpsonR200Hub
Paper Height = 29.7
Paper Width = 21.59
Number of Views = 1
; 1 for print directly to disc
Print Type = 1

[View Info 1]
View Type = Disc

[Disc Info 1]
Offset = 7.40 6.62
Inner Radius = 1.1
Outer Radius = 5.80

Notice the "Inner Radius" setting, this is the radius in Centimetres of the "hole" that will not be printed.

In the line "Name= stringRef:EpsonR200Hub", the EpsonR200Hub is used to get the name of the media that will be displayed in the application. This key is used to access the file "C:\Program Files\Roxio\Easy Media Creator 7\Label Creator\RxRes\Default\Locale\1033\Strings\LabelCreatorStrings.xml".

Edit this file and add the line :-
<string name="EpsonR200Hub">Epson Stylus Photo R200 Hub Print</string>
immediately after the line :-
<string name="EpsonR200">Epson Stylus Photo R200</string>

The newly created media definition will now appear in Label Creator and will preview and print to the hub area of the disc.

Roxio EMC7 Label Creator
Printing to SureThing 20001 CD Label Forms

I could not find a form selection in EMC7 that looked like it would work for this label stock, so I took matters into my own hands.

The following isn't perfect, but it is close and I ran out of time and patience to keep experimenting with the settings. This was developed using a HP color laser printer. I expect things will vary a bit on different printers.

There are a number of files in the C:\Program Files\Roxio\Easy Media Creator 7\Label Creator\page files folder which define print media / device settings.

I copied the file "Memorex Disc.jwp" to "SureThing 20001 Disc.jwp".
Then, I edited the new file using Notepad to look as follows :

[Page Description]
/* Internationalize everything after name = (that line only)*/
Name = stringRef:SureThing20001Discs
Paper Height = 28.0
Paper Width = 21.6
Number of Views = 2
[View Info 1]
View Type = Disc
[Disc Info 1]
Offset = 8.9 6.5
Inner Radius= 2.05
Outer Radius= 5.9
[View Info 2]
View Type = Disc
[Disc Info 2]
Offset = 11.9 19.2
Inner Radius= 2.05
Outer Radius= 5.9

In the line "Name= stringRef:SureThing20001Discs", the SureThing20001Discs is used to get the name of the media that will be displayed in the application. This key
is used to access the file "C:\Program Files\Roxio\Easy Media Creator 7\Label Creator\RxRes\Default\Locale\1033\Strings\LabelCreatorStrings.xml".
I suggest you make a backup copy of this file before proceeding.

Edit this file and add the line :
"<string name="SureThing20001Discs">Sure Thing 20001 Discs</string>"
immediately after the line :
"<string name="SanwaLB-CDRJP27Discs">Sanwa LB-CDRJP27 Discs (Japan)</string>"

The next time you launch Label Creator you should see SureThing 20001 form available in the drop down box.

An Easier way to set up for the HP D5160 printer is:

Well, after two hours of trial & error, I have the EMC labeler program printing directly to CD/DVD using the HP Photosmart D5160 printer. The following settings will allow you to use this printer with EMC label creater as well:

1. Install your printer using the software provided by Hewlett Packard

2. In Roxio EMC label creater:

Select File: Printer Adjustments
Select Printer: HP Photosmart 5100 series
Select Paper Alignment Horizontal: 0.00
Select Paper Alignment Vertical: 0.00
Select Scaling Height: 100
Select Scaling Width: 100
Keep Aspect Ratio should have a checkmark
Select OK

3. In Roxio EMC label Creater:

Select File: Page Setup
Select Disc (in the various tabs)
Select Current Paper Type: Generic (plain paper)
Select Start Position Horizontal: 0.25 (positive number)
Select Start Position Vertical: 0.29 (positive number)
Select OK

4. In Roxio EMC Label Creater

Design your label

Note: The printer will print in the center all the way to the spindle hole (not shown on the roxio template) If you have printable disc's that do not have a full center to print on, add a white circle filled to the center outline in the roxio design and make sure it is the top layer of your project. This will keep ink out of the non-printable center area and keep your project clean.

Remember to Save your Work.

5. IN Roxio EMC Label Creater

Select File: Print
Ensure HP Photosmar 5100 series is selected in the Printer Name window.
Select the Properities Button next to the Printer Name window (a new window will open).
In the Properties Window for this printer under features ensure the following settings:
Print Quality: Best
Paper Type: (HP or Other) Inkjet-printable CD/DVD
Paper Source: CD/DVD Tray
Landscape should be selected
Resizing Options, Size: CD/DVD, 120 mm
Print at actual size should be selected
Select OK (you will return to the Label Creater Print Window)
In The Label Creater Print Window select OK

You may or may not see a preview. If you do select start printing
Ensure your disc tray with printable disc is loaded in the printer
ON YOUR PRINTER press the print button

This works for me. I am using EMC 7.1.1.189 build. However I expect it will work for your version as well.
This is only set for the normal size, 120mm, CD/DVDs. If you use the smaller, 80mm, size you will have to adjust these settings to make it work for you (at least until Roxio actually makes a template for it).

The print is fantastic and I no longer have to play with peel and stick labels.
ROXIO - Feel free to verify these settings for an update to your program.

I hope this will help some of you.