For weddings in 2019 I am only delivering a mp4 on a usb stick as standard and moving away from delivering dvd's and blu-ray's but still offer them as paid option, currently I use a epson xp-760 for my dvd discs and dvdbox prints which I also use for other not wedding related projects and because the cost of original ink became so high I added a CISS system.

I got my CISS system from Italy and am surprised how long I can print and how cheap it is, the complete CISS system with the inktanks that sit outside the printer, the inktanks that you place inside the printer and 600ML ink (6 bottles with different color and 100ml each) is the same price as 6 original cardridges.

Last week I ordered 6 new bottles of 100ml each and paid 4 euro per bottle, sendingcosts was higher then the price of the ink!

These 6 bottles will last me at least 2 full years while in the past with original ink certain colors needed to be replaced so fast, and my xp-760 refuses to print any further if it tells me a cardridge is empty ,which was a issue if I had a deadline and it was a Sunday. That's why I aways had to order enough back up cardridges in advance.

Epson, just like my previous canon printers, gives me a hard time everytime it notices I"m not using their own ink, when printing a4's for a dvdbox it will stop printing halfway the page every 15 or so prints, then start complaining about a certain color not being recognised and I only have to re-seat that cardridge, press "ok" through a few warning messages on the lcd screen, then another warning screen appears on my pc about using fake ink and once that's pressed I get my next batch of 15 prints. So here I loose one print every 15 prints.

For my dvd's and Blu-ray discs it's different, there it starts fast with the printing but again after a while it starts to print frustratingly slow for a while before picking up speed again.

As long as my xp-760 works I will keep using it, printquality is very good but today I saw they don't make the printer anymore, next time I"ll buy 2 printers and 2 ciss systems and just keep the second printer as backup.

I have an Epson Artisan 50, but like you, I'm moving away from DVD.

Epson XP-640. Just bought it last year at Best Buy. Had a similar model (630?) but had issues last year & had to get a new one. I think it was the only one they had which printed to DVD & I agree these features are being phased out. I considered just having my DVDs 'professionally done' as I exit the DVD market the next few years, but figured might as well get one more printer to ride it out.

I use to have an epson printer and your issues bring back memories of similar struggles I endured and have forgotten about.

I’ve since moved to canon mx 922. I also have changed from ciss tank system to generic cartridges. They cost more and aren’t environmentally friendly but they are cleaner, easy to use and seem to eliminate issues of printing too many times to a cartridge. I can’t say for sure if you have the same success with epson they might a more strict 3rd party deterent system.

My Epson 720 died a few weeks ago and I was shocked to see that only the top range models print onto DVD's now ... a few years ago even the under $100 machines did CD's! What's also scarier is blank disks are starting to get scarce too! Well decent ones anyway! We have LG DVD burners and found that using LG disks (whoever makes them) resulted in zero rejects from brides ...using other "brands" became a logistical nightmare with angry brides wanting DVD's that work!! We don't supply DVD's any more ..just USB's but we also do Real Estate Property Reports and the format is on 2 x DVD's (one for the Realtor and one for the Lessee) so that's a mere outlay of $0.60 .... You cannot buy USB's under 16GB nowdays and those are not 30c but at least $7.00 .... Anyone have any bright ideas as the Realtor wants a physical product!! It will solve my printer issue as I could just print a strip label !!

I still have quite a lot Tayo Yudens right now to last me at least 2 more years and I hope by then nobody will ask for them anymore. Usb sticks also got pretty expensive, I remember 2 or 3 years back I got 8gb sticks for 4euro and a year later the same sticks doubled in price. My goal is to have a download option only in the future.

I'm a fan of Verbatim printables. Have enough to last me a few years as well as I purchased so many during an Amazon black friday deal.

I think i'm one of the few that won't be moving away from delivering blurays or dvd's ... I always throw in a USB dongle with the edited file in it's highest quality as a bonus or 'extra' that seals the deal and gets me the booking.

Don't you guys find that couples want a lot for their money so giving them lots of tangible goods surely will always help.

Hi James

I used to do photos only in the old days and we used to present the bride with a huge album full of prints in a tissue paper lined box with Our Wedding is silver foil on the front of the album ..it was impressive, and had a HUGE "value for money" for the bride because it was tangible (same as putting a Christmas gift in a bigger box with huge bows and ribbons to increase it's value)

A tiny USB don't represent as much value as a cased set of DVD's or BD disks .. I would suspect that brides see even less value in an online video. We live stream the wedding which also gives us a cloud copy (we also provide a USB) but although it's great for us it doesn't have any perceived value to the bride as she gets nothing in her hands. I did see one album supplier here that does an album that has 4 or 5 pages for photos (maybe 4K grabs?) and then in the middle you have USB cutouts and/or disk cutouts ...I would rather hand that over to a bride than a tiny USB !!

I produce both dvds and usbs. I thought usbs would be quicker but turns out not to be true. The affordable one in the $5-6 range have extremely slow write speeds. 10gb videos and it was taking over 20 minutes and printing and cutting out inserts for the encasement. I might have to buy a usb duplicator. Does anyone use a usb duplicator?

I use a Primera Bravo Pro to print and duplicate the Discs and print the case artwork at Staples or Office Depot.
I've been considering switching to flash drives for a while now but haven't.

I use a canon pixma IP7250.