Ok, I'm a newb and DVD production since I usually contract someone else to press them for me.

Whats the best method to print DVD labels for the disc itself? I know lightscribe discs are expensive and so are the burners.

And lightscribe takes a long time per disk. I recently did a project where I had to do 60 light scribed disks and it took 23 minutes per or 23 hours for the bunch.

Depending on the project I would consider ordering pre-printed blank DVDs.

Where would you suggest for ordering those. In the US.

http://www.discmakers.com/film/products/dvdr105.asp

You have to buy a few . . .

Hey, I see you are in Crawfordsville -- I grew up mostly in Bloomington, moved away, and then went back to ol' IU for my BA. Cheers.

minimum 300. Hmm, for smallscale jobs will an inkjet DVD printer cut it?

DVD Cases - Uline : http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_5152.asp?desc=Standard+DVD+Cases

DVD Covers - Office Depot : http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=606493&x=0&Ntt=canon+photo+paper&y=0&uniqueSearchFlag=true&An=text (and when they do their buy one get one free.... heck yeah STOCK UP)

DVD's - Meritline : http://meritline.stores.yahoo.net/ritek-ridata-8x-dvd-r-white-inkjet-printable.html

And any inkjet printer that will print ON the CD's. Such as this one: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=201980077&loc=101&sp=1

For long term use, you might want to check out a Bravo CD/DVD Duplicator that also prints on the DVD's. That's what we have and it's nice (when it works...).

Well again it depends on the project and the nature of your business and client expectations.

Depends on what you make an hour, the cost of a finished project etc. Your real cost = ((time spent burning + time spent printing)*hourly rate) + cost of materials + waste.

If you have lots of time to produce DVDs then you might save some money. But if the time could be better spent on more productive activities, like actual production work, then you have to stop and think. Since I charge more per hour for production than I do per hour for making DVDs it sometimes pays to have the printed disks made.

I've had a Bravo for a couple of years and would thoroughly recommend. I have a it running on a dedicated PC so it doesn't interrupt workflow and it just does what it says. Simple black printing, I can get almost 1000 disks from a single inkjet cartridge too..

Hope this helps

Graham

minimum 300. Hmm, for smallscale jobs will an inkjet DVD printer cut it?

Depends on the INK as well as the printer. I print mine with an Epson R800 Photo Printer and it works fine, as well as resists moisture smearing. I had previously used an Epson printer that did cd/dvd's but did not use pigmented ink, and the prints would smear if they got wet or say, sweaty hands handled the DVD. Trying to spray the discs with a clear coat was messy, awkward, smelly and generally a pain (and why I upgraded to the R800).

Epson CD printers come with CD/DVD label printing software that works fine. You will need some other software if you also want to print the Jacket Artwork Insert (some of which may come be included when you purchase a package of per-scored printable jacket inserts).

The lightscribe discs are nice for quick and dirty artwork, but take about 30+ minutes for a decent hi-def picture and basically only do "black on white [gold]" pictures.