Kevin,

Thank you so much for chiming in here. I was hoping that you would. Can you give us some information on the exact model printer you have and about how much that runs in US dollars? I would be curious to know for my own information. Thanks again Kevin. I really like that it appears that this system hooks to your main PC very easily and does not hold you up from the ability to keep working on other applications at the same time.

Kyle

We use the Primera Bravo Disc Publisher. They now have the Bravo II and Bravo III.

About the best price for a new one is arounf $2,000. We found a used one for $1200 and it runs like a champ. The ink is at a fair price as well.


Kevin

Those desktop DVD publisher machines are also available from wimmedia (Western Imperial Magnetics), the same company I posted a link to on the other thread.

I'm sure they are available at a few outlets. You just need to know where to look.

- Donald

P.S. Factor in the cost of that machine, and the cost per disk is pretty high unless you are planning on longterm and high yield use. But then again, it takes a lot of the labour away, and yet you still have certain control.

Let me throw this in - unless I missed it, ger DVD - R not +R. The -R discs are still most often read around different regions. (Scott, Kevin, am I still accurate with this?)

I get blank discs from outfits on eBay, along with cases for them. My entire DVD that I currently sell is about $1.85/unit. Now that said, if I were to get 1,000 printed at once, I could probably drop that price down to about $1.29/unit.

I use the Epson R220 (upgraded model to what Scott mentioned earlier) it prints directly on the disc and does a pretty darn good job.

I also have a Sony DVD burner drive that cost about $129.

Just some thoughts there.


Ashkenazi, if you're only make a few discs at a time (say 50 or less), then I'd say go with the Epson direct to disc printing system. A bit more labor but worth it on small runs.

Robert

Robert, how have you been!

Yes, I'm pretty sure you are correct regarding DVD-R being the more compatible of the two. Though, at this point a lot of info out there is urban myth and so it's hard to get actual numbers.

I usually go with either Verbatim, Memorex or TDK for my discs. I have found they are more reliable. There are some cheaper discs (Kevin, you mentioned that!) but I had a bad experience twice in the past and have decided to "go with what I know." I purchased a very cheap brand and the two discs started to come apart in the center. (a DVD is made up of two pieces of plastic with a purple dye between them). This made an "oil spill" pattern on the purple dye side and also unplayable. So I got it in my head that I'm not using them anymore. Probably just one bad batch. Who knows? *shrug*

Also, this is probably getting more technical than needed, but while we are on the aspect of compatible discs, when you create your disc, you can do a lot to make it play on most players. In the encoding process, keep your bitrate as low as possible while keeping the picture looking good. I usually can get good pictures on screen while staying in the 5-6 mb per second ballpark. If your DVD encoding program allows you to set this number, that's great. Any higher and the DVD will be sending a ton of information to the player. Some of the older players don't have as good of a buffer as the newer ones and thus, a DVD won't play in it.

Though I'm still convinced it's more voodoo than science, which is why agents still ask for VHS!

Kevin, I'll have to look into that system. Looks promising!

Warm regards, all,
Scott

You definatly want to see a few Lightscribe discs burnt
before you go down that path. Not saying they are bad,
but they do have a few minus points.

One of my drives died on my main computer so I bought
a Lightscribe enabled internal drive for not much more than
a normal DVD burner.

I don't send out huge amounts so it works well for me
and I'm happy to just scribe a bunch of 10
while doing something else.

The finished effect is a little less than you might
be lead to believe from the advertising
However when you understand that, you can then make a design
that works with that look.
They are quite distintive however and do get noticed.

Timothy

I concur with the opinion that DVD-R is more compatible. It's the oldest format. DVD+R came later. It wasn't even part of the original DVD specification- only DVD-R was. (Phillips pushes +R. Sony pushes -R)
But, theoretically, once the disc has been finalized it becomes a DVD-Video and the particular recording format (-R, +R, -+R) should become invisible to the DVD player. "should be..." But in my experience it sometimes isn't. I've had problems with DVD+R, and I never use them if I can help it.

DVD-R's are the only way to go.

I have had great luck with TDK printable DVD-R's.

And the best part - every couple of months, Costco sells them at a huge discount - buy a spool of a hundred discs, get a second hundred FREE! I think the last time they ran the promotion the cost per disc was under .20!

Keith

Great information sharing here folks. Thank you all so much for chiming in and giving us your own personal opinions and ideas based upon what has worked for each of you. I know I am learning a lot and I appreciate it.

Kyle