Labeling your Media - Final Discs for Couple

[Mike Beckett]

Originally Posted by Jeff Pulera

On the larger bulk DVD jobs, I've started using Kunaki -- CD/DVD manufacturing and publishing service - this may not help folks outside the US though. But I just upload the DVD and the artwork to their site and a few days later the finished discs arrived at my door. Full color printing of DVD, case jacket, card inside case (if desired), includes shrink wrap, all for $1.75 per unit. Can't beat that at home and saves me a TON of labor on the larger jobs.

Would love to hear if anyone has any experience of a UK equivalent of this service. I've Googled, but not found anything near this price bracket. Especially when they take the p*** with Northern Ireland postage.

I use a CISS in my Epson printer for DVDs and covers. It was from City Ink Express, looks identical to the RIHAC system, and has saved me a fortune. My next run of DVD inserts are going to be printed by a local printing company, but I still have to print the DVD faces, and use a tower duplicator for the discs themselves.

It's charity work, the money comes in in dribs and drabs rather than all at once from a single client, so my spare time (free) is better than spending £100s on duplicating.

[Peter Riding]

I prefer to do it all inhouse so that I can customise everything for each individual client and type of job.

It is just packaging at the end of the day and unless you are chasing the vanishingly small numbers of clients who have lots of money to spend and who are receptive to triggers prompting the desire for exclusivity ..... well you may be incurring extra expense for no good purpose.

I use clear DVD boxes with see-through front sleeves into which a customised print can be inserted as the wrapper. I don't use the cheapest available but they are by no means expensive either.

I print onto discs using an Epson XP-850 and original Epson inks - it can get expensive if you use compatible inks and have to regularly flush through the system. Also there is a finite number of times you can flush the ink before the printer is DOA; unlike the larger printers that can have a replaceable waste tank. You cannot reset the latest printers with third party software now either - so you can't fool the printer into thinking it has more space in the waste tank than is the case.

I used the RIHAC continuous ink system for a couple of years on my 850's predecessor. It was OK but eventually was more trouble than it was worth because of air bubbles in the system etc. RIHAC support is excellent and I've Skyped them using an Ipad to video in real time what the printer is doing. But it is unwieldy and I won't get it for the 850. It does void your warranty.

The 850 is also good for scanning and photocopying. Its a lot smaller than earlier models.

The Epsons come with disc printing software in the UK (maybe not so in the USA as there were copyright issues going back). It works great, no need to use 3rd party software like Nero or Photoshop.

Here is a video disc surface customised for a kids birthday party. The blue surround is just the software saying that space is blank:

http://www.ashtonlamont.co.uk/images/disc1.jpg

And one for a wedding. This time customised to refer to NTSC (I'm in a PAL area):

http://www.ashtonlamont.co.uk/images/disc2.jpg

And for those of you venturing into offering stills, a disc customised for high resolution digital files:

http://www.ashtonlamont.co.uk/images/disc3.jpg

I reckon that the ability to use any image and any text trumps more elaborate or posher outsourcing solutions.

I do have Lightscribe as well. As others have mentioned it is very slow. Also it doesn't have the same ability to use any image - you have to choose carefully for good results. And the media is increasingly hard to obtain; I couldn't get any dual layer Lightscribe discs at all though they did once exist.

The wrappers I print for the boxes can be as simple or elaborate as I want. A simple one:

http://www.ashtonlamont.co.uk/images/wrapper.jpg

I print the wrappers on normal photo paper on my wide body Epson 4800. You can use the Epson 850 type printers but their ink is not pigment and prints will not cope well with placement in direct sunlight. You can of course use a lab. Just put your DVD wrapper onto a plain A4 background and get it printed then trim the excess off.

Disc surface and box wrapper production both lend themselves very well to the use of templates whilst at the same time allowing infinite customization. I'm not sure how anyone manages to take more than a few minutes to do them.

Pete

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Mike Beckett

Would love to hear if anyone has any experience of a UK equivalent of this service. I've Googled, but not found anything near this price bracket. Especially when they take the p*** with Northern Ireland postage.

I use a CISS in my Epson printer for DVDs and covers. It was from City Ink Express, looks identical to the RIHAC system, and has saved me a fortune. My next run of DVD inserts are going to be printed by a local printing company, but I still have to print the DVD faces, and use a tower duplicator for the discs themselves.

It's charity work, the money comes in in dribs and drabs rather than all at once from a single client, so my spare time (free) is better than spending £100s on duplicating.

I never need to run off more than a handful of discs myself so have never needed to get them duplicated by a 3rd party but I know colleagues who have used these people & been very happy with the results & the prices Prices for CD Duplication and DVD Duplication

[Tim Bakland]

I like the Epson 1430. Not for bulk jobs, but for a few disks in a wedding.

[Nigel Barker]

Peter, if you shoot a disc only wedding with no wedding album do you give them the disc in a "clear DVD boxes with see-through front sleeves into which a customised print can be inserted as the wrapper" or something nicer?

[Peter Riding]

Peter, if you shoot a disc only wedding with no wedding album do you give them the disc in a "clear DVD boxes with see-through front sleeves into which a customised print can be inserted as the wrapper" or something nicer?

Yes thats exactly what I deliver. And whats more I get complimented on it. And get referrals. e.g. my shoot this Saturday is a recommendation from the grooms work colleague whose wedding I shot 3 years ago and that was a standard files only job.

I actually deliver two copies of the files DVD package, one being as a backup for them. In addition they receive three versions of each file. One is partially edited but not resized or sharpened (from the RAW) which is for Photoshop enthusiasts as it gives them more pixel pushing potential than an entirely finished printready file. The second version is fully printready. The third version is shrunk down ready for web use.

These factors together with the highly personalised discs and wrappers probably increase the perceived value over "shoot and burn" alternatives.

I've been experimenting with online delivery for the past few months as well. This is in addition to DVD discs. I upload all three versions to my website (which has unlimited capacity) as three zip files. Interestingly though my webstats show that very few clients download these zip files, presumably preferring to wait for the discs to arrive by post. And i am in a very tech savvy region.

The presentation cases from Queensberry Jorgensen Loxley et al are products they are pushing to improve their bottom line not my bottom line. Its integral to their sales pitch that they try to make you feel like you are an also ran budget photographer if you don't pay their inflated prices.

The SWPP trade fair tomorrow Saturday and Sunday is well worth getting along to. Its very wedding focused compared to Focus on Imaging (and its successor). GraphiStudio have at long last started exhibiting at it. I'd give the seminars from the self-appointed "experts" on all things photographic at the show a miss though, again thats largely about their bottom line not yours in my humble opinion :- )

Pete

[Note Suwanchote]

anyone know of a place in the US that does this with Blu Rays?