Printable DVD-R recordable | Thermal and Lightscribe printable dvdr discs
We are the experts when it comes to thermal printable dvd-r for Rimage Everest and Primera disc printers and stock media that we have tested for its quality thermal printablity. The thermal disc printers allow quick turn around for duplication jobs when using dvd-r or cd discs. If you have a trade enquiry for any of the thermal printable dvd disc products we stock then please call or email! We are the UK number 1 suppliers of black and coloured dvd cases and plastic cd and dvd wallets.
See current most popular bulk spindle DVD-R media disc products below - for Jewel Cased DVD-R or Spindle DVDR click hereInkjet printable dvd disc media vs disc labelling
If you are in the business of wanting to print the surface of your DVD or CD disc then you are looking at one of two options.
Printing directly onto the surface of a disc - inkjet printable dvd or cd - by Simon YoungRecently the quality of inkjet printable discs has undergone a revolution, the surfaces now allow full photo quality images to be printed directly onto the disc using a printer which accepts a caddy to hold the disc while it is being sucked into the printer, these single disc printers like the latest Epson R265 are relatively inexpensive and allow the home or small business user to run off small quantities of discs with little skill required to produce a professional finish. Indeed once printed these discs are often difficult to distiguish from the originals.
To go to the next stage of printable dvd or cd you need to buy automated cd printing equipment - either thermal or automated inkjet -
A thermal DVD printer will use pressure and heat to apply text and pictures to the cd or dvd surface. The resulting print is waterproof and durable and does not require any additional coating. The limitation of a thermal print is it's inability to adequately produce photographic images. A thermal print should only be used for simple text and graphics. Inkjet printers work very much like a regular paper inkjet printer. The ink is sprayed from nozzles onto the inkjet printable dvd or cd surface. After printing, the discs can be coated with a lacquer or laminate to ensure they are highly water and scratch proof. The print quality is equivalent to photos.
The vibrancy and detail of an inkjet print can only be matched by an offset print - this is used often in dvd or cd replication. Photographic images, text, logos and other graphics are all rendered exactly to the quality supplied in the artwork, artwork is often best supplied therefore at 300DPi and with a Pantone colour match. The main drawbacks of an inkjet print are the inability to produce Pantone colours exactly, some degree of difficulty to precisely colour match and time. It can take up to 4 minutes to print one full coverage disc! We use an inkjet print as standard for all of our short run CD and DVD runs. The quality print out and the low price make it the best and most cost effective option for smaller run projects with quantities below 500 discs. We would always recommend an inkjet print instead of a thermal print for all short run work. If you are going above 500 discs look at the affordability of our replication services.
Many consumers have used CD or DVD labels for years as a very affordable option to add a printed surface to their disc. This is indeed a very cheap way of producing a high quality finish to the disc itself, however it does have some drawbacks - the main one being that in applying the label itself inaccurately can cause the disc to become unbalanced and therefore unplayable. The label itself adds weight to the disc and therefore if the label is slightly off center in can cause the disc to spin unevenly, there is a greater margin for error on CDR as the recording pitch is not as narrow as DVD - it is therefore not ideal to label DVD as there is a much higher chance of making the disc unusable. Glossy labels can be used and these can produce an excellent result - however you can still tell the disc has be labeled and some people think this detracts from the disc look and feel.
Our advice - for small run home use use disc labels. For anything else use inkjet printable dvd or cd media.
Author, Simon Young - Partner DVD-and-Media.com
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