Has anyone printed around the center ring on a DVD yet?

craftech wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:05 AM
I see that a lot of commercial DVDs have only a ring of printed info around the raised hub in the center of the DVDs.

I would like to do that on plain Ritek G04. I have an Epson R300 which won't print on that surface. Neato "Core" labels look terrible and are actually too large (the extend over the raised ring which makes them look sloppy and prone to loosening). It also has to be done with MediaFace 4 (which is software from hell). I know that SureThing makes "hub" labels, but it's still not what I am looking for.

I am looking for just a ring of writing around the hub of non-printable Ritek G04 like you see on commercial DVDs.

John

Comments

GaryAshorn wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:11 AM
I have done it this week on the R300. Does not have the same print background as the rest of the dis but did it on Prodisks I think was the brand. Worked OK it seems.

Gary Ashorn
Chienworks wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:14 AM
Usually discs that are only printed around the hub are dual-sided, so they can't have printing on the rest of the surface.

You do realize, don't you, that you can print on discs and labels with ANY software, right? You can print on a disc with your favorite photo editor, drawing program, even Microsoft Excel if you're a masochist. Anything that has a print function will print on a disc or label just as easily as it will on paper.

My usual drawing/design/printing software is Micrografx Windows Draw 6. I measured the size and position of the disc label on the Avery label sheets i use, then drew a circle that size on a blank document. I use that circle as a guide to position whatever i want and then print from there. It may be a bit trickier with the printable discs since they're not on an 8.5x11" carrier, but a couple of tests on regular paper should get you in the ballpark for positioning and then you can measure how far off you are and adjust from there.
farss wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:18 AM
I got one spindle of Prodisc DVDs that were printable right to the hole but these ones don't have the 'stacking ring' whatever that's for. But the next spindle I bought didn't have the printable surface all the way in and did have the stacking ring.
craftech wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:42 AM
I'm not talking about "printable" DVDs. It's the non-printable Ritek G04 that I would like to print around the hub. Just something simple like the name of the show, the company, and Act 1 let's say. That's all.
Aren't there thermal printers which do that? The problem of course is the software which goes with it. It may only print straight across. Not sure.

John
farss wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:46 AM
The cheap thermal printers only print one or two lines of text in a restricted area of the DVD. They don't like screen printed DVDs either, the prinitng doesn't stick at the edges of the screen printing due to the bumps.
The real thermal printers need DVDs with a special finish and they COST. They also do a great job but a bit out of my price range.
craftech wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:54 AM
....but these ones don't have the 'stacking ring' whatever that's for.
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They are to keep the writeable surface of the disks in the spindle from damaging each other.

This looks interesting:

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114592,tk,wb030804x,00.asp

John