I guess one thing to tell customers, If it gets wet, dont worry, put it in a drying rack so the water can run off and let it air dry, or only pat it dry, as the rubbing seems to cause scratches in the shiny cover.

So,

I've finally used a full spindle of the Taiyo Yuden watershield discs and I have come to a conclusion. Before, I thought I was just using crummy discs and that is why every so often the burn would fail, but, the same happens with these discs.

I still have failed burning sessions with taiyo yuden discs. They are not perfect, but darn close. Plus, I think my disc drive just likes to fail every 8th burn just because, no matter what brand of disc.

I know I'm late coming into this thread but wanting to give my 2 cents worth. I've been printing on discs for several years now. I used to use regular printables and sprayed them with clear acrylic. That did seem to work pretty good, but it was really a hassle, especially if you have 50-100 discs to do. First, you need a large area to spray them on because you have to let them dry for about 24 hours before the stickiness disappears from them. You also have to be careful when spraying that some of the spray doesn't find its way to the data side of the disc (either from under the edges or the center hole). That said, the spray did protect the printing from smearing.

Then a year ago I discovered the Watershields and have stuck exclusively with them ever since. I've burned almost 300 of them (and just ordered another 100) and they always look fabulous. I also highly recommend them.

Some people think that they aren't worth the extra money, because "who is going to wet the service of their discs"? Although I guess the discs could get wet from accidental spills or being caught in the rain, but I want to protect also against sweating fingers.

Spraying discs
 

I would like to caution anyone using clear acrylic spray paint to coat their discs to make them more protected from damage. Any solvent based substance can damage discs (especially DVDs). Although the damage might not be apparent at first, the paint can cause data corruption issues after several months have past. Yes spray painting your discs doesn't always ruin your discs. Under the right conditions and with a light hand it can be done but the tolerances between success and disaster are quite slim.
I have found that any high quality glossy printable disc works great with my DiscPainter. The colors come out vibrant, clear and do not smudge. I have not noticed any scratching issues with my DiscPainter printed discs. Between the printable base layer that the printable discs come with and the printed label layer the DP lays down my discs seem to be well protected from normal use scratching.

You have something wrong with your burner, or computer that you are using to do the burning.

I've burned over a thousand 16x DVD-R and have only lost what I can count on a single hand. I've lost others due to foreign matter getting on the disk before burning and blocking the laser... those i do throw out.

As for failure in the burning process... nope.

TY Watershield - Utter Failure
 

So many have said that the TY watershield discs are almost as great as sliced bread.

For me, it was more like burnt toast.

At work we are required to have discs that will not smudge, etc. Our supplier started supplying said CDs. Unfortunately I still have not heard back as to what they are exactly using for media and what they are using to print them. What caught my eye, besides the fact that I could place it under running water and not cause ink run, was that the ink liiked like it was below the glossy surface.

So, I went digging and found the TY watershied discs. The place I normally purchase from had them. So I ordered 50. I finally got around to printing on one. I then saved it to so a friend. Several days later, while at the restaurant, I described what it was and what it was supposed to be able to do. I then took a paper napkin, soaked it in water and lightly rubbed the disc. The ink ran like it was water. There was no problem at all removing the ink from the surface and I didn't even have to try.

So much for watershield and so much for the paperwork that came with the spool saying that it was compatible with all inkjet printers. :mad:

I used up the rest of them, but they are stored in hanging folder type sleeves, so the odds of getting wet are slim.

Remember the look of the ink under the glossy surface? Not these. The ink definately looks like it is on TOP of the surface.

The printer in this case is the Epson R1800. Actually, I did it on the R800. But both printers use the same ink cartridges. But the results of later printings on the R1800 didn't make a difference.

I have no idea what it takes to make these discs work with the Epson printer.

I can't find a web site for TY to try and contact them.

An interesting thread, but throughout it,
 

I found no mention of what I think may be a possible culprit for the cause of smearing: the make-up and/or chemical composition of the ink.

No, I don't work for Epson, (and I'm not defending them/their marketing of ink), and I know absolutely nothing about the chemical composition of inks, AND I have no idea what makes a "high-quality" ink, but it seems to me that it could be a factor in smearing, drying, adhesion, or removability, don't you think?

I totally agree. But, according to the paper that came with the TY spool, the discs are supposed to be compatible with all inkjet printers. Is it possible to test their media with all the possible inks? Probably not. But, they should test with printers that can print on CDs/DVDs, which will reduce the number of items to test.

Again, because I have not been able to contact TY, all of this is speculation.

[QUOTE=Michael Brown;873201]So many have said that the TY watershield discs are almost as great as sliced bread.

For me, it was more like burnt toast.

Are you sure you have the authentic TY discs? I read somewhere there are fakes floating around that are very low quality. Authentic TY is always made in Japan, not Taiwan or China.

AFAIK they are. Obtained them from Rima.com. They sell all kinds of TY media. The 16x normal ink jet are.

I was about to say the same thing. I was worried when I first bought them, as TY warned me of cheap imitations. They said that by looking at the package, there is no way to tell the difference.

Just because a store or site is reputable, doesn't mean THEY haven't been screwed on a deal. Shit always happens.

I don't know if you want to give it a shot but I have always gotten mine from http://www.supermediastore.com/ at a good price. Might wanna give them a shot if you wanna give it a whirl again. It is really odd your experience is so different from ours or at least mine.

If you look at the photo they have for the media, you'll notice the printed piece that comes with the DVDs. That printed piece is exactly the same as the printed piece that came with the cake pack that I got from Rima. I do not believe that I got "fake" watershield media.

I'll be happy to physically send you one of the pieces that I've printed on, after I've duplicated the contents onto a different piece of media :D You can then see for yourself what it looks like after the R1800 printed on it.

Man that is really strange. You wouldn't think that HP would change the ink chemistry so much that it would not work with these DVDs.

Sorry I didn't find this thread until now.

TY Watershields were used nearly exclusively at my former 9 - 5, printed on Epson R200 series printers without ANY bleed whatsoever and I use a mix of Watershield and non-watershield in my business without issue on my R260 using Epson ink.

I've had not one coaster since I switched to TY.

Tyler: I'm surprised you can't find TY Ws in Toronto. I'm in Winnipeg and I have 2 suppliers that STOCK these as regular items. If you would prefer to deal with a physical store (sent via post or courier), please advise and I can send you the info.