I tried the Epson R200 and I had to return 2 already. Not anymore. Any decent DVD label printer compatible with Mac OS10?

Greatly appreciate your feedback

Max

I'm using Canon Ip6000 and lovin' it. If 6000 don't fit your budget, you may try 4000. Both are also pretty cheap concerning cost of ink cartridges.

Darko:
Thank you for your suggestions.

Unfortunately, per the message below from an Amazon customer it looks as if the PIXMA 6000 does not support DVD printing in the US. Too bad.

Anyone else have any other suggestions to print directly on DVD for us Poor Mac users?


"When it arrived, I noticed it had no CD tray and there was nothing in the book about printing CDs or DVDs. I called Canon and they said they were not aware of the printer and would do some research. About 5 minutes later the guy came back and said that the printer WITH THE EXACT SAME NAME had CD printing support in ALL countries except the U.S. I told him that having the same name and number system was absurd with different features. He blew me off. So beware, if you want to print CDs or DVDs, this is NOT the printer to get."

Maximo,

What is the problem with the Epson R200?

Mike

I have an Epson R300 and it works perfectly. As long as you use printable DVD's it should be fine.

I spoke with Epson service. The first time the DVD tray did not work (probable mechanical problem). The second time my computer was sending information to the printer but the printer did not respond.

Honestly, I am not ready to try a third time. I bought it through Sam's club. Is it possible that Sam's receives some printers taht have less than ideal quality control? I don't know.

I found out that lacie makes a dvd burner that uses the same laser to burn the face fo the dvd. Has anyone used this? It sells for about 140$.

Thanks

Maximo,

All I know is that I got my R200 at B.J.s Club, (just like Sam's Club) for $78.00, and I never had a bit of trouble. Most of the complaints on the Epsons I have seen on this forum have been about the ink not drying, but I'm pretty sure that was probably caused by using the wrong DVDs, (they must be printable) and or setting the inner and outer ring size wrong and printing over a non-printable area.

Anyway, good luck with your next purchase and I hope that it works right for you.

Mike

The burners that 'burn' labels don't do full color, if that's important to you.

I have an Epson R200 as well. Seems to be working fine, have printed probably a hundred disks so far. I realized when I went to buy a new set of cartridges, that the printer itself is free.

That's right. At Fry's, the R200 sells for $79. If you buy all six cartridges to replace the ones that come with, it's something like $75. Yeah, you can shop around, buy in bulk and buy "off brand" cartridges and save some bucks, but you're only going to save ten to twelve dollars or so. So I figure I'll use this printer till it drops, and buy another one.

I got an R200 in the package with my Imac and have printed directly on printable DVD's with no problems. My only drawback is that it won't report status information when attached to the USB port of my Airbase. But, that's not a printer problem. It prints just fine from all three computers in my home.

Sam's maybe selling some factory refurbs so you have to watch out for that. Frye's Electronics is notorious for selling refurbs.

-gb-

You're right about fry's you have to look closely for the 'r' they put on the sales labels.

But the 79$ price is new. CompUSA was selling them for 83...so it's not a stretch.

Another thing you have to watch is those selling the printer w/o ink cartridges. For those who have the R200 or R300, or any printer for that matter, the ink is the biggest cost. I posted this before, but I bought cartridges from a seller on ebay. I haven't had the need to use them yet, but they sell three complete sets (18 cartridges), for $49.99, with $6.95 for shipping, and they ship fast! Their feedback rating is 99.9%.

They are------- inkjetking99

Mike

They may be refurbished at SAms too. I cannot think of any other reason

I checked everything possible and was on the phone with Epson support. They concluded the printers were faulty.

I guess the third time is the charm.

I'll post what happens

maximo

I purchased a refurbished printer direct from Epson, $78.00, free shipping. Never had a bit of trouble from it. Sometimes I have to reload the tray, but it has always ended up doing a nice printing job. Very proud of the work it does and have gotten compliments from all clients.

I tried it the third time and it turns out I was not selecting the correct routing. You cannot go direct to print (even though it's misledaing because it has an option that says Epson DVD), you need to go to print settings and take it from there. The first person I talked to at Epson did not know what he was talking about. But this time, At first it did not work but the lady i talked to at epson support this time was very thorough and got it working.

Great printer. I'll be using it mostly for printing home-made DVDs. It looks great for that. Does anyone know how many DVDs you can print with one load of ink?

Thank you to everyone for their feedback. This is a great forum to turn for advice. If i ever learn anything I'll be happy to share as well.

maximo

It'll depend on the ink coverage and color usage. Sorry, but your mileage WILL vary. (I've printed over 80 disks and many more VHS labels on my current cartridges, but that is with many different labels.)

BTW, you didn't say what software you are using. I highly recommend Diskus (v3) by Magic Mouse Productions <www.magicmouse.com>. An earlier version shipped for free with the Epson 900. I've found it to be versatile and easy to use.

Well, I bought my Epson200 from Sam's for 90bucks and some change and haven't looked back. The trey is tricky, once I figured it out, I was good to go. I know that differnt OS' may treat the printer differently. I run XP.

I have to sink money into a new computer, other wise I would tink of getting one of those fancy dvd burner/printer robotic looking things from Primera.

Just 2k is a bit too much for me atm.

I've seen some comments regarding the Epson 200 and 300. But what about the 320? I've read a little about it on cnet.

I'm wondering if it is possible to print from Adobe Illustrator to Disk or if the Epson program has to be used.
Thanks,
Scott

Sometimes I have to reload the tray, but it has always ended up doing a nice printing job.

Bruce, that tray reload thing isn't because you got a refurb, all R200s seem to do that. If the tray isn't positioned exactly correct, they'll poke the tray back out as if to say "try again".

Positioning accuracy improves with practice, but I've found that Murphy's Law applies: the more time critical the project, the more likely the tray will require a reload.

I've seen some comments regarding the Epson 200 and 300. But what about the 320? I've read a little about it on cnet.
I have the Epson 320. I think it's probably close to the 300, with some added features.
I'm wondering if it is possible to print from Adobe Illustrator to Disk or if the Epson program has to be used.
I use a Photoshop CD/DVD template Epson made for the Stylus Photo 960, but it works just fine for the R320. Illustrator can open Photoshop files, so you could try it for printing directly from Illustrator. Just make sure you read the instructions included with the template on how to set things up to print correctly.

Download the template here: http://www.videohelp.com/forum/images/guides/p1068210/stylusphoto960cdtem.zip

Bruce and Patrick, I think my R200 sometimes does some kind of head cleaning dance when I print a disc, and I figured that was when the tray got pushed out. Like you said, just wait for it to give the error message and push it back in.

Christopher, I don't know about printing direct from Illustrator, but if it doesn't work you should be able to just export it as a square image and drop it into the Epson software as a disc background. That's what I did for all of my discs back when I was stuck with labels and lousy software. I haven't tested the Epson software out thoroughly yet, but I will probably keep doing this for my more elaborate label designs. This way it also stays compatible if I change printer/software in the future. I used 2000x2000, but there's nothing magical about it -- feel free to experiment.

I don't know about printing direct from Illustrator, but if it doesn't work you should be able to just export it as a square image and drop it into the Epson software as a disc background.
I don't know either, as I never tried printing from Illustrator, but like I said, Illustrator can open Photoshop files (and hence the Epson template), so it might work.

I use the Epson template with Photoshop, and it works great printing directly to my Epson R320. Why go through the extra step of importing the image into the Epson software if printing direct from Photoshop works?