Printing on CDs and DVDs can be an arduous task and it usually ends up looking terrible. Correct me if I’m wrong. The software tends to be shoddy and it takes forever to do. Dymo’s DiscPainter CD/DVD printer makes the ordeal fun and easy. You see, it spins from the inside out at about 600 DPI a minute. The demo was impressive and even when prints were set at 600 DPI a minute the quality didn’t really diminish as opposed to printing at 1200 DPI in about three minutes. The DiscPainter hits retailers in October for $279 and that includes a USB 2.0 cable, AC power supply, three inkjet printable discs, and a full-color ink cartridge, which spins out about 100 discs.
600 DPI a minute? what does that even mean? DPI = Dots Per Inch. So the DiscPainter prints 600 Dot per inch in one minute. If that’s correct then this device is not all that efficient.
Esteban
I probably should have clarified, but I’m busy watching cartoons. The demo I saw took all of 15 seconds or so for one disc to be painted.
This looks really cool. Better than printing on sticky labels and trying to match it up…
Is the ink all wet like after it’s done printing. Plus I have to wonder how much the discs will cost and how expensive the replacement ink will be. Otherwise this looks pretty cool for the DVD or music pirate on your X-mas list.
Ink was completely dry, Travis. They weren’t too keen on telling me how much replacements were, but it all depends on how much you’d be using it.
Mark-
It totally beats printing on sticky labels.
The software seemed like it was super easy to use and you can splash a collage of pictures or add text to the existing templates or make your own. Definitely worth a look if you’re into making your own CDs and DVDs.
Cartridges are $30 per color and they’re only available from Dymo.
Its priced above most low end printers and below most mid range printers. Its a pea shooter which means for multiple prints, you really have to just hang around next to it and load everything one by one (like the low end printers). The mechanism looks better than the Epson 300 series (which isn’t saying much)
But ultimately, Dymo is FAMOUS for proprietary highway robbery. Just try a Dymo label maker and find 3rd party labels…wont happen…Dymo printer = Dymo labels = overpriced all around. Lets hope the ink cartridges aren’t the same. If so, you can count on an inflated replacement price boosting this printer into the midrange market which it is NOT equipped to hang with. If the replacement cartridges are about $8-10 each it seems like a good deal. Come on Dymo, make it affordable all around!
Andrew Hamilton
Video Production Las Vegas
http://www.hiproductions.com
Buy a Canon printer and mod it.
http://pixma.allhyper.com/
Just curious where you got your information that only Epson printers can print directly to disc. I have the new HP Photosmart C5280 All in one, and that has the ablility to print directly to disc!!
Webjedi:
http://pixma.allhyper.com/ is now http://damnprinter.com or http://damnprinter.tk
Disc painter looks pretty cool and fast but $279 is rather steep for a one trick pony. The Canon IP4300 can be bought for as low as $49 and it will do more and cost cheaper although it only prints on inkjet printable disc but they are cheap.
Also DPI means quality so higher is better, 300 is good, 600 is better and 1200 is even better, although I doubt most users will see anything beyond the 300dpi quality setting as neccessary. Most pictures, logos and artwork is 300dpi or so because the file sizes will get huge at 1200dpi and on a 12cm disc you couldn’t tell the difference.
I concur with Webjedi, my Canon Pixma iP4300 prints directly to disc, both full and mini. It does a fine job and prints a disc in about 20 seconds at my printer’s resolution capabilities. I have the bonus of using whatever CD labeling software I want, plus I’m using printer ink. It does a fine job.
Sure I need to use printable discs, but then my lightscribe needs special discs as well. An alternate method I used for years was the Avery, clear vinyl labels which came with a cd labelling program. You had to peel’n’stick the label
manually…. but the results looked very professional and I have never had a problem with seperation.
Being gadget oriented… the Disc Painter looks cool…. but for that price it should be automated to print multiple copies with a CD tray.
I hope they have the sense to make a Mac version of the accompanying software. It would be foolish not too. Mac users don’t want to have to boot over to Windows to paint their disks, it’s just too hard :P
I have printed literally thousands of discs on my Epson R series printers. Ink is heap from abacus24-7 t $4.45 per cartridge and one set of cartridges will last through hundreds of prints. The quality is absolutely stunning (IF your source is also stunning off course) I make my own photo disc sets of pictures I take at Naram (big rocket launch held yearly) and short of getting them wet (just don’t) they are indistinguishable from commercially printed discs and personally I think they look a LOT better. :-) only takes bout 100 seconds to print a disc maybe 2 minutes. No where near slow enough to be annoying or anything. The disc prints faster than the cover thats for sure. I buy Taiyo hub printables from supermediastore.com. Never had a problem. I HAVE had problems with “pro disc” brand discs from burn failures to delamination so I stay away from those.
If I remember I will put a picture up of one of my discs. I use Canon Printers for pictures and covers but only ip6000 and older printers since I can get the ink for $1.15 a pop.
“600 DPI a minute? what does that even mean? DPI = Dots Per Inch. So the DiscPainter prints 600 Dot per inch in one minute. If that’s correct then this device is not all that efficient.”
Dots Per Inch is a measure of density. It’s printing resolution. The higher that number the higher quality the image. It’s not “600 dots per inch per minute”. The usable area of a CD is (about) 34 square inches. So if it takes 1 minute to print a disc at 600DPI, that’s (about) 20,400 dots per minute.
I say this technology some years ago – and it snice ot see it eventually licensed and commercialised. The print is done via a radial print method, printing while the disc while it spins, so it pretty REVOLUTIONARY (no pun intended) – you can find loads of CD printers at http://www.cd-writer.com.
http://shop.cd-writer.com/acatalog/ALL_PRODUCTS_DVD_CD_PRINTERS_376.html
There is a mac./windows program from MagicMouse called Discus 4 that is used to do the printing.
A question I have ? On my Tayiko Yuden discs that have a mirror finish on the top side, on which you can writer with a felt pen and it dries. Will the discprinter print on these and dry. I hope that it will. Dave
Yes, one can buy a Cannon printer that has the CD printing capability deactivated on models sold in the US, get some spare parts, download software and maybe you will have a printer capable of printing on discs. While your at it, you can also attach a delta wing to it and bolt on a turbo prop and the Cannon becomes a jet fighter. That’s a great idea if you are a tech geek but what about the rest of us? And what happens when something breaks? Will Cannon help you fix some freaky modification to your printer? In a word, no.
Personally I would rather buy a CD printer that works right out of the box, no fuss, no hassle, and easy to use without an engineering degree from Cal Tech.
I received one of these printers as a wedding present last month and used it to create beautiful video DVDs of the wedding, reception, and the honeymoon (no not that pervo). :)
The DVDs were a hit and a special way to say thank you to all the guests.
I tried this printer out at B&H in new york and it was great. The quality was amazing and it dried so quickly becasue i forgot that it was ink and i touched the disc after about 15 seconds and it was pretty dry. I hate the printer i have becasue i have to dry my cds overnight but this is much easier. — i can’t wait to get one.
Wonder if the cartridges are refillable. I have HPs and Cannon printers. I go to wal-mart and pick up a refill kit and I am off and running. So I wonder if these would be easy to refill. It is worth looking into. I think this is pretty neat as well. I still use perm pens to write on my disks. :(
The best thing about Dymo DiscPainter Multi Color CD/DVD Printer is that it will print ALL the way to the center of disc…NOT just to the 1/2 dollar size ring in middle of disc.