19 replies to this topic

[davidcc1]

Hi Everyone,

Can anyone recommend a CD/DVD printer without hurting my Bank account. I bought the Epson Photo R220 and I'm not impressed with it. I guess cheap things are no good.

Regards,
David

[tsantee]

I believe the Epson's are the only ones in the U.S. that print directly to discs. Canon makes some that sell in the U.K.

There are a couple applications (other than the Epson one) that support this feature. One is Print Shop from MacKiev.com and the other is Discus 4 from magicmouse.com.

[davidcc1]

tsantee, on Sep 10 2006, 06:55 AM, said:

I believe the Epson's are the only ones in the U.S. that print directly to discs. Canon makes some that sell in the U.K.

There are a couple applications (other than the Epson one) that support this feature. One is Print Shop from MacKiev.com and the other is Discus 4 from magicmouse.com.

Tsantee,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Regards,
David

[davidcc1]

davidcc1, on Sep 10 2006, 05:25 AM, said:

Hi Everyone,

Can anyone recommend a CD/DVD printer without hurting my Bank account. I bought the Epson Photo R220 and I'm not impressed with it. I guess cheap things are no good.

Regards,
David

Tsantee,

Do you have any experience with the LaCie DVD burner with LightScribe?
Does it it take long to image a disc? Is the quality good?

Davud

[tsantee]

I don't have the Lightscribe drive but I think it wouldn't meet your needs. It is monochrome, fairly low resolution, lacking in contrast and takes quite a while to scribe the disc. What was your objection to the output from the Epson printer?

[davidcc1]

tsantee, on Sep 11 2006, 09:24 AM, said:

I don't have the Lightscribe drive but I think it wouldn't meet your needs. It is monochrome, fairly low resolution, lacking in contrast and takes quite a while to scribe the disc. What was your objection to the output from the Epson printer?

I never got the CD/DVD tray to work properly so I can't comment on the output quality on a disc. From what I've read, after printing to a disc, you would have to wait 24 hours before playing on a DVD player.

The inks used are water based, so sweaty or wet hands would smudge the image. I bought the printer spontaneously and should have researched it before buying.

I already own one of the first generation LaCie Dual Layer burners hence the reason I am interested in LightScribe. If the first generation cannot use LightScribe, I will buy one of the newer models. The printed DVDs are for my personal so it does not have to be Hollywood quality. The only issue is that LightScribe Double Layer DVDs are not available.

[tsantee]

davidcc1, on Sep 11 2006, 03:06 PM, said:

I never got the CD/DVD tray to work properly so I can't comment on the output quality on a disc. From what I've read, after printing to a disc, you would have to wait 24 hours before playing on a DVD player.

The inks used are water based, so sweaty or wet hands would smudge the image. I bought the printer spontaneously and should have researched it before buying.

I already own one of the first generation LaCie Dual Layer burners hence the reason I am interested in LightScribe. If the first generation cannot use LightScribe, I will buy one of the newer models. The printed DVDs are for my personal so it does not have to be Hollywood quality. The only issue is that LightScribe Double Layer DVDs are not available.

My business partner bought one of those Epson printers but we haven't yet used the disc printing feature. I wasn't aware of the drying time issue. Mostly I just use a Sharpie, but we wanted something that could make a good-looking label if we produce a disc for a client.

I understand that Lightscribe is improved from its original quality. I hope it meets your needs. If you search this forum for Lightscribe there were a few other threads here.

[davidcc1]

tsantee, on Sep 11 2006, 06:36 PM, said:

My business partner bought one of those Epson printers but we haven't yet used the disc printing feature. I wasn't aware of the drying time issue. Mostly I just use a Sharpie, but we wanted something that could make a good-looking label if we produce a disc for a client.

I understand that Lightscribe is improved from its original quality. I hope it meets your needs. If you search this forum for Lightscribe there were a few other threads here.

I hope that he has good luck with it. I also failed to mention that I tried the iomega brand DVD-R Printable disc and was given a
CANNOT WRITE MEDIUM-INCOPATIBLE FORMAT
Sensor Code = 0x30, 0x50
Sense Key= ILLEGAL REQUEST

Can you recommend a brand of printable media that I can use safely with Toast?

[tsantee]

davidcc1, on Sep 12 2006, 09:26 AM, said:

I hope that he has good luck with it. I also failed to mention that I tried the iomega brand DVD-R Printable disc and was given a
CANNOT WRITE MEDIUM-INCOPATIBLE FORMAT
Sensor Code = 0x30, 0x50
Sense Key= ILLEGAL REQUEST

Can you recommend a brand of printable media that I can use safely with Toast?

I don't have the experience with the printable discs to recommend one. It seems to me that the most commonly printable discs available around here are TDK. You might check your drive manufacturer's site to see if they have a list of media which they've tested on the drive.

[davidcc1]

tsantee, on Sep 12 2006, 03:40 PM, said:

I don't have the experience with the printable discs to recommend one. It seems to me that the most commonly printable discs available around here are TDK. You might check your drive manufacturer's site to see if they have a list of media which they've tested on the drive.

Thanks for your help. The drive I am using is the one supplied with my G5 2.7 Dual Mac just for the record.

[bohalloran]

Hi,

I'm one of those types that is a bit slow to get the newest technology, so just a week ago, I bought the Epson R320 and after playing with the Epson Print CD application and figuring out how to create a label, I am very pleased with the results.  I got it off ebay, NIB for a really good price.

What is it that your not happy with?

I can't say that I've seen other printers that offer this capability.

Bob

[bohalloran]

davidcc1, on Sep 11 2006, 06:06 PM, said:

I never got the CD/DVD tray to work properly so I can't comment on the output quality on a disc. From what I've read, after printing to a disc, you would have to wait 24 hours before playing on a DVD player.

The inks used are water based, so sweaty or wet hands would smudge the image. I bought the printer spontaneously and should have researched it before buying.

I already own one of the first generation LaCie Dual Layer burners hence the reason I am interested in LightScribe. If the first generation cannot use LightScribe, I will buy one of the newer models. The printed DVDs are for my personal so it does not have to be Hollywood quality. The only issue is that LightScribe Double Layer DVDs are not available.

Hi Davidcc1,

Sorry for my somewhat incomplete posting about the cd printing.  I use Verbatim and memorex printable dvd's and have had no problem with my optical drive reading them.  I heard and read that memorex is not high on the list of discs to used so I guess I'm lucky with the batch I have. I've not encountered any smudging etc.  I usually wait 5-10 minutes after printing before putiing it into a dvd drive/player.  never had a problem.  I have printed about 15-20 so far.  I am still using the ink catridges that came with the printer.  Are you using epson cartridges or a generic?

What got me to getting the printer is that over the years I've probably created several hundred dvd's and used a smarty ink pen and with my poor hand writing its not very impressive let alone readable.  My bother in law had one and saw the results he got with it and was so impressed that I bought one myself.

Bob

Bob

[theoldarchiver]

Just chiming in, I am a satisfied Epson Stylus Photo R220 user. It was the best affordable Mac-compatible CD/DVD printer I could find. Ink is not so cheap, though.
The comment about the time to dry is correct per Epson's advice. But if you handle CDs/DVDs with care (fingers on the edges, not on the surface), then it doesn't matter, because the Epson ink dries fast enough for immediate use in your drive.
The tray was odd at first, but the included guide sheet gave good instructions.
The software isn't very elegant when you're used to pro design apps, but doing some preparation in Photoshop makes it very managable.
I use Verbatim white printables exclusively for this, and they all look great, imo.

Edited by theoldarchiver, 14 September 2006 - 09:43 AM.

[davidcc1]

theoldarchiver, on Sep 14 2006, 09:42 AM, said:

Just chiming in, I am a satisfied Epson Stylus Photo R220 user. It was the best affordable Mac-compatible CD/DVD printer I could find. Ink is not so cheap, though.
The comment about the time to dry is correct per Epson's advice. But if you handle CDs/DVDs with care (fingers on the edges, not on the surface), then it doesn't matter, because the Epson ink dries fast enough for immediate use in your drive.
The tray was odd at first, but the included guide sheet gave good instructions.
The software isn't very elegant when you're used to pro design apps, but doing some preparation in Photoshop makes it very managable.
I use Verbatim white printables exclusively for this, and they all look great, imo.

Hi Bob and theoldarchiver,

Thanks for your input. I am encouraged to try and work with the printer again, but cannot seem to get the tray working properly after following Epson's exact instructions. After loading the tray with a CD and positioning the arrows with each other, the tray would load into the printer after I give the command to print and then the printer would spit the tray back out.

I've tried for about an hour without success and the only remedy that came to mind was using a sledgehammer.

David

bohalloran, on Sep 14 2006, 08:31 AM, said:

Hi Davidcc1,



What got me to getting the printer is that over the years I've probably created several hundred dvd's and used a smarty ink pen and with my poor hand writing its not very impressive let alone readable.  My bother in law had one and saw the results he got with it and was so impressed that I bought one myself.

Bob

Bob

Bob,

You have not seen my handwriting as yet. I am sure it's worse than yours.

Now, just to get the tray working.

David

[bohalloran]

davidcc1, on Sep 14 2006, 05:25 PM, said:

Hi Bob and theoldarchiver,

Thanks for your input. I am encouraged to try and work with the printer again, but cannot seem to get the tray working properly after following Epson's exact instructions. After loading the tray with a CD and positioning the arrows with each other, the tray would load into the printer after I give the command to print and then the printer would spit the tray back out.

I've tried for about an hour without success and the only remedy that came to mind was using a sledgehammer.

David
Bob,

You have not seen my handwriting as yet. I am sure it's worse than yours.

Now, just to get the tray working.

David

Hmm,

Well, I had a different problem (for whatever reason the print driver wouldn't work) and after many attempts of trying to figure out what was going on, I took the chance of contacting Epson support thru their online support.  I identified my problem as best I could and what I had done and here's what happened.

1.  Within 3 hrs of my email I got an automatic response that my query was received and that I should receive a response within 24 hrs.  That happened with very detailed instructions on three different remedies, the second of which worked.

So I would recommend that to you.  If you do that, there is one part of the form you fill out that asks for the serial number of the printer.  It is located on the lower left back side of the printer in case you're not aware.

Good luck.

Bob

[bohalloran]

bohalloran, on Sep 14 2006, 06:40 PM, said:

Hmm,

Well, I had a different problem (for whatever reason the print driver wouldn't work) and after many attempts of trying to figure out what was going on, I took the chance of contacting Epson support thru their online support.  I identified my problem as best I could and what I had done and here's what happened.

1.  Within 3 hrs of my email I got an automatic response that my query was received and that I should receive a response within 24 hrs.  That happened with very detailed instructions on three different remedies, the second of which worked.

So I would recommend that to you.  If you do that, there is one part of the form you fill out that asks for the serial number of the printer.  It is located on the lower left back side of the printer in case you're not aware.

Good luck.

Bob

And one more thing

Make sure that the printer driver you are using is set for EPSON USB and not just USB.  I know that the instructions say USB, but Epson Tech Support told me that it does need to be set for EPSON USB.

I ended up haing to trash the Epson Print CD (plus a bunch of other files) and do a custom install.  I got all these instructions from Epson tech support since I'm not really a techie.  But the good news is that it did work.

Bob

[davidcc1]

bohalloran, on Sep 14 2006, 04:42 PM, said:

And one more thing

Make sure that the printer driver you are using is set for EPSON USB and not just USB.  I know that the instructions say USB, but Epson Tech Support told me that it does need to be set for EPSON USB.

I ended up haing to trash the Epson Print CD (plus a bunch of other files) and do a custom install.  I got all these instructions from Epson tech support since I'm not really a techie.  But the good news is that it did work.

Bob

Bob,

The printer works fine with letter sized paper, but it is the CD/DVD tray that is causing me grief. When I go to my office this morning, I would check that Epson USB is selected.

Thanks,
David

[bohalloran]

davidcc1, on Sep 15 2006, 05:29 AM, said:

Bob,

The printer works fine with letter sized paper, but it is the CD/DVD tray that is causing me grief. When I go to my office this morning, I would check that Epson USB is selected.

Thanks,
David

david,

Check your personal messages.  I sent you one with the instructions I got from Epson.  Hope this helps.

Like you I was also able to print memos, using the standard print dialog.  But for whatever reason, the application Epson Print CD uses an Epson driver setup that is different from the standard print dialog that you would see in word, excel, etc.

Hope this works for you.

It did take time, as I am slow/cautious about messing things up.

Bob

[davidcc1]

bohalloran, on Sep 15 2006, 06:36 AM, said:

david,

Check your personal messages.  I sent you one with the instructions I got from Epson.  Hope this helps.

Like you I was also able to print memos, using the standard print dialog.  But for whatever reason, the application Epson Print CD uses an Epson driver setup that is different from the standard print dialog that you would see in word, excel, etc.

Hope this works for you.

It did take time, as I am slow/cautious about messing things up.

Bob

Bob,

Thank you very much for your help.

Regards,
David

[bohalloran]

davidcc1, on Sep 15 2006, 11:01 AM, said:

Bob,

Thank you very much for your help.

Regards,
David

Let me know what works out.

Bob