I've had my epson RX580 for almost 7 years now. I love this little printer... Combined with the water-shield DVD's, i'm usually impressed with it's quality.
That being said, I'm afraid she's getting a bit old. I've been fighting lines "banding" in my last 3 or 4 projects. I've cleaned the heads, completed alignment, nothing seems to help.

Just curious what you guys are printing too. I would like to find something for around 500USD$ Disc Painters look cool, but way more money then I thought they would be. Anyone impress with some of the newer epsons?

I use a print house for all of my other printing needs. I could very easily have them print the DVDs for me, but I feel like I would lack the control of proofing the image. Not to mention, if the DVD fails while burning.... I would like to be able to print on my own if able.

Steve

I use Kunaki for even the smallest orders. I've never had a problem with them and everything I receive looks exactly like I expect. The only downside is needing to allow six days for delivery.

If I absolutely need to print in-house, I use my Epson Artisan 710. The Artisan series is relatively inexpensive and produces quality results. I don't know if there have been any improvements to the Dymo DiscPainter, but the original used a ton of ink per disk.

I use a Brother MFC-J825DW. It's an great all-in-one, plus it has a DVD print tray. It's a four ink system (CMYK) but it still prints as well as my R300 did before it died (which was a 7 ink system.)

It's got WiFi, scans directly to Google Docs and Flickr and a bunch of others, has a document feeder, and prints on both sides of the page. It's definitely worth $150.

I'm using Epson Artisan 730. It has been replaced with a newer version. About $100. Great price. Built-in DVD tray too. Love it. I use it with CISS.

InkXPro CISS for Epson Artisan 730 Printer | L.A. Color Online Blog (http://lacoloronline.com/blog/?10221-InkXPro-CISS-for-Epson-Artisan-730-Printer)

Thanks guys, I'll be looking into those options.

Steve

I use Kunaki for even the smallest orders. I've never had a problem with them and everything I receive looks exactly like I expect. The only downside is needing to allow six days for delivery.


I'm struggling to comprehend how cheap that is! I just checked and even with postage from states to UK for 3 DVDs is $11, can this be right??

How do you get the content to them?

I use the Epson Artison 835. It gets the job done well, but I dunno about you guys, but this printer and possibly series, is really pretty cheaply made. Nothing's actually broken, but the plastics are super flimsy, the paper tray and the paper "catcher" whatever you call the tray that paper spits out onto after printing, sags. And it's not because I've allowed it to bear a lot of weight, but just letting it sit out, it sags under its own weight. That's how cheap and flimsy it is. So, the whole thing feels pretty cheap. However, end result is good for DVDs. I bought it at Fry's and had to print DVDs that day, so had no choice as this was that was really there.

Having just completed the pain of a manual run of 40 DVDs (with printed DVD face, glossy DVD case inserts and shrink wrap), with frayed nerves and much swearing, a service like this looks pretty appealing. If it wasn't non-paying work for a charity I'd be on this like a shot.

Has anyone got any experience of doing this with UK-based vendors? I'm keen to avoid the international shipping costs on larger runs.

I use the Epson PX810FW with a continuous ink system from RIHAC.

Works great. It prints disc surfaces within a few seconds unlike some of the predecessors I had. Its not industrial strength but its not flimsy either.

It has wifi and that enables it to receive print instructions direct from my S3 smartphone and my ipad.

Pete

Do you guys do custom labels for a wedding, or a more generic 'our wedding day' label you can order from a company in bulk?

I customise all disc surfaces with an image from their wedding as a background and their names and date in text.

I also customise all the box covers with a print and text. I use see-through boxes and slide in the prints I make on my Epson 4800.

Pete

Definitely custom cases/printing is the way to go!

We include a still on the front and back covers, and a different one on the disc itself. Our titles/ design matches what they see on the main menu of the Bluray and DVD. It's a BIG hit with our customers, makes them feel like they own and are watching a real movie.

We print our own as well, Epson Artisan 810. I have thought about sending them out, but I can't see waiting on it, and as someone else mentioned, I wouldn't want there to be a burn failure and have to wait for a new one. I guess it's a control thing. :-)

I'm using Epson Artisan 730. It has been replaced with a newer version. About $100. Great price. Built-in DVD tray too. Love it. I use it with CISS.

InkXPro CISS for Epson Artisan 730 Printer | L.A. Color Online Blog (http://lacoloronline.com/blog/?10221-InkXPro-CISS-for-Epson-Artisan-730-Printer)

+1 for the Artisan 730 and CISS combo! Get some Epson Ultra Premium printing paper to go with it. Yer prints will look AMAZING!!!!

Hey Taky and Kelly
That is exactly what I was looking for....

I'm struggling to comprehend how cheap that is! I just checked and even with postage from states to UK for 3 DVDs is $11, can this be right??

How do you get the content to them?

As they say on their website - think of them as a machine, not a service. You're feeding data in one end and the disks come out the other. They have very limited options (You want white DVD cases or multi-page booklets? Forget about it. You'll get black cases with a one-page insert and like it!)

To get content to them, you download and run their proprietary software. It's kind of clunky, but it works. You provide the artwork in JPG format in the EXACT size they specify. The software reads your physical CD or DVD and uploads a byte-for-byte exact copy. I follow their rules and I've never had a bad experience.

I do all the design myself. Design the front and back DVD case insert together with the DVD label. Here's one

DVD Case Insert and Label Design | L.A. Color Online Blog (http://lacoloronline.com/blog/?10230-DVD-Case-Insert-and-Label-Design)

What I did for the case insert is to move the template to the top left corner of the page. Then use my printer Borderless Printing feature so I only need to trim the bottom and right edge on Letter size photo paper I bought at Costco.

For the DVD label, I design on Photoshop then copy and paste the artwork to Epson PrintCD to print from there.

You can download my templates here

DVD and BluRay Design Template | L.A. Color Online Blog (http://lacoloronline.com/blog/?10257-DVD-and-BluRay-Design-Template)

I print the DVD/Blu-ray discs in a Canon iP4800. It's not super-fast but does print very high quality.

The cases we now use are from Loxley Colour & cost £24 including tax but are very luxurious & admired by all who see them. 9/10 opt for the soft padded image wrap but the etched leatherette are preferred by a few. https://www.loxleycolour.com/cddvdfolio.aspx

I guess time for me to invest in a machine then

Nigel--do you happen to know of a vendor for the cases in the US?
thank you

I guess time for me to invest in a machine then

Nigel--do you happen to know of a vendor for the cases in the US?
thank you
Loxley will ship worldwide but it may be too expensive for you. You would save on the 20% sales tax though.

Found:

http://www.bayphoto.com/packaging-presentation/cd-dvd-cases/
$25 per case.

Several others I found won't show pricing unless you're a member, and they want you to be a photog. Maybe ask a photographer friend for help, if you want more options.

I use an Epson Artisan 835 for printing onto my Water Shield DVDs. They look amazing.

I use Staples to print out my DVDs covers at about $0.50 a pop.

I used to print out the covers at home, but to get the glossy look was costing a lot of money in ink, and I found that the Staples regular laser printing actually looks very good.

I've had my Epson for about 18 months and it's starting to have problems feeding the A4 premade inserts through, so that's another reason I switched to having Staples do it.

On Jul 4, I do this event for a local church where they order 100 DVDs to give away of the celebration. Last year, I made all 100 (90 minutes long) in my computer one at a time, printing one at a time... but I had all the case inserts ready to go. LOL

Do you guys do custom labels for a wedding, or a more generic 'our wedding day' label you can order from a company in bulk?

I do custom everything.

Each wedding is differnt and I make each one personalized.

The extra time and effort to do this is factored into pricing.

I briefly thought about using a standard theme for simplification, but just was not happy with that idea the more I thought about it.

Can anyone recommend a UK printer? The Epson 'Artisan' range seems to be for the US market and the Epson PX810FW that Peter recommends is unavailable - I guess it's been updated. Also seemingly unavailable now is the RIHAC ink system

http://www.rihac.co.uk/

I'd rather look at what's recommended on this forum than go by the manufacturers claims. I'm currently using a Canon iP4850 that's lasted all of 13 months before refusing to print any more discs!

Pete

Pete,

I settled on this unit: Ciss for Epson printer: Epson PX730WD | Dye Ink | City Ink Express (http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/ciss/epson/px730wd/px-series/dye-ink)

It seems physically identical to the Rihac CISS system. I use it on my Epson PX730WD, and have printed 100s of DVD covers and DVD faces, and a good few photos.

It's still a pain in the ass printing these things, loading discs 1 at a time for a run of 100, and the pain of feeding the sleeves through in small batches to avoid slipping/problems, and the pain of having to de-perforate all those sleeves and hope they fit an Amaray case (bizarrely, some do, some don't). But at least the cost of ink isn't killing me any more. Getting them duplicated professionally is beyond my budget - but I am considering getting the DVD sleeves mass produced and just doing the disc printing myself.

I suppose that's OK for a reasonable volume of identical DVDs, but for weddings you want a bit more customisation for smaller runs and can't go to a printing company.

Cheers Mike - I'll look into that

Pete

My HP disc printer suddenly died last week and a bit of research came up with a Canon Pixma IP7250 on a special offer from Argos at £48.99. I was very dubious about it being any good at that price, but was very pleased with the results. It's a recently introduced model, so compatible inks are only just coming on line, and the original Canon ones are as much as the printer. It's about the same speed as my old HP, the print quality is much higher, and at that price I am not complaining.

Roger

I was going to recommend the Canon iP4850 as that is what I have used for the last 18 months. I use the genuine Canon inks & get beautiful results. I only print discs with this printer but very low volumes sometimes just a couple for each wedding so the rather convoluted process printing one disc at a time doesn't bother me.

Can anyone recommend a UK printer? The Epson 'Artisan' range seems to be for the US market and the Epson PX810FW that Peter recommends is unavailable - I guess it's been updated. Also seemingly unavailable now is the RIHAC ink system

Untitled Document (http://www.rihac.co.uk/)

I'd rather look at what's recommended on this forum than go by the manufacturers claims. I'm currently using a Canon iP4850 that's lasted all of 13 months before refusing to print any more discs!

Pete

Pete, Rihac Australia works just fine. I have had refills direct from them. I don't think they need a UK distributor to be honest.

Their support is excellent. I have done a Skype with them using my Ipad so that I could point it at the relevant parts of my Epson Stylus Photo PX810FW and they could therefore answer my questions a lot easier. There is a time difference obviously - we talked about 7am UK time :- )

The Artisan range does a lot more than just print and I use mine a lot as a photocopier.

Yes the printer I use has been superseded by another model.

Remember that the Artisan inks are not pigment inks and therefore do not take kindly to strong direct sunlight. I use my Epson 4800 wide body printer for "proper" prints if I don't use a lab.

Pete

I was going to recommend the Canon iP4850 as that is what I have used for the last 18 months. I use the genuine Canon inks & get beautiful results. I only print discs with this printer but very low volumes sometimes just a couple for each wedding so the rather convoluted process printing one disc at a time doesn't bother me.

Hi Nigel - yes the quality of the iP4850 is very good - nice and crisp print but the fact that it's died after only 13 months has put me off getting another one - I also have only used it for printing discs at low volumes