I agree, Mike. The particular disk I am talking about was printed about 3 months ago, the smear wasn't complete, but it did degrade the image. Of course, I guess my spit could have something to do with it :)

The Epson printing is great for my purposes. However, if you are going to wash the disc in water, there may be degradation of the image. I sometimes have to wash disks I get from Netflix, and I can see that might be problem with the Epson printed disks.

Have any of you guys had good luck with primera or similar inkjet printers?

I am just looking for a cost effective solution that will print more durable copies then the r300. Even months after one of my disks is printed, the surface is still pretty virgin and all it takes is clammy hands to smudge it.

I am not going to dump $3000 in a laminator but I am thinking about one of these dup/printer systems if the ink is more durable then my current system. I am even considering thermal printing. Primera produces inkjet printable disks called TuffCoat that are advertised as being water resistant. I have no idea how something like that works but I would be willing to give it a try if it was truly water resistant.

However, I have heard some bad things about the primera printers. This one from microboards looks perfect: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Just in case Chris, I wouldn't spit on your car to try and clean off any bugs :)

Maybe I can bottle it and sell it as a solvent.... :)

I think I have a couple of older disks, so I will try a test with water. Saliva is very different from plain water. It has digestive juices and enzymes.

I'll check it out.

Mike

Chris...

Have you tried the test using FRESH spit? :-)

I tried a drop of water on a TDK disk printed with an Epson R200 and the ink came right off.

However, when I print business cards using the Epson 2200 onto semigloss paper, I can drench the print with water and the ink stays put. Probably as something to do with the type of coating Epson uses on their paper.

If Epson made printable DVD's I'm certain the inks would also stay put.

Guys and gals, we just have to realize that our ability to print neat DVD's and CD's from our printers is a gift at this time. The cost of silk-screening is beyond our budgets unless we are doing thousands.

I'm very happy with my $88.00 Epson, and until I'm doing a commercial run in the thousands, I'll stick with it.

Have fun, be honest and up-front with your customers, and if they want silk-screened CD's and DVD's then tell them the price. That will bring them back to reality.

You can spray coat them with clear coats, but I would not bother for the most part.

Mike

I have an HP external Lightscribe burner and love it. It has both Firewire and USB 2.0 ports. True it does take about 30 mins to burn a label, but that is if I include a pic on it. If I just make a simple title it takes about 15 mins. The discs have come way down in price since they first came out. You can find them quite cheap at Wally's World, Office Depot, Staples, ect. I'm not sure if BH has them, or any of the other sponsers here. I get them at the first mentioned places so I don't have to pay shipping. I mainly buy my more expensive stuff on the sponsers sites.

Now THIS is a real tip...
 

if the ink won't smudge. Any experience with these cartridges and smudging?

I use the R300 with white-faced discs, and would print more/better stuff if cartridges cost less.