Is a neato LCD screenie something that's available only in the UK?
Or is this another Grazie-ism?
:-)

Mike

Thanks!

I have been advised to buy a few of them T-Ys too, that was JUST after I bought the Verbatim printable WHITES!! A 50 spindle!!

It comes with some rudimentary FACE software, which I can get by on. But this has really added that "finished" look to my work.

Grazie

I have the very similar http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=63069505RX680[/link]. I love it.

Grazie: Have you ever thought of a new career writing technical manuals? I think you have the talent and they would be so much more fun to read than those literal Japanese to English ones..."neato LCD screenie"... I love it!

By the way, I do my labels in Photoshop, merge the layers and Control A, Control C" copy them from Photoshop into the Epson Face program. The only thing you have to worry about is that the dimensions not exceed 1179 pixels square in Photoshop if you want to do a direct copy and paste.

Please post again in a few months. Hopefully Epson has fixed the problems they introduced in the R260. Every time there is a jam or the printer gets confused, it goes through a cleaning cycle that dumps between 20% and 25% of the entire contents of all six ink cartridges. Since I purchase nothing but genuine Epson ink, and a set of cartridges is $80, this is a huge expense.

The R260 does make great looking discs when it isn't jamming (which it now does on every disc) or dumping ink, so I can understand your excitement over the result. But, like I said, let us know in a month or two whether it is working well over time. Hopefully it will be good. My understanding is that the old R200 was a fantastic printer, so hopefully Epson will be back on track with this newer unit.

I chose an HP Photosmart C5280. It too has a neato LCD display thingie! It's a combo printer, disc printer, scanner, copier, etc. The quality is photographic. So far my only complaint is how tiny the ink cartridges are. I did find one store in the area that sells full cartridges instead of the half-full ones that most places sell so i'll see how those work on my next replacement.

I'll have to say though that my single most favorite feature of this printer is that it is *NOT* an Epson! :) I had my outs with them 15 years ago badly enough to be sure i never want to touch one of their products ever again. Comments like John's simply confirm my conviction.

I've had the RX580 for about 6 months or so. It's a really nice unit, especially for all it does.

That being said, I gave up printing on it because it simply goes through ink too fast. So I dusted off my R200 so I could use it with the Ink Caddy.

Before, it always seemed like I was buying at least 1 cartridge a week for the RX. Since I started using the Ink Caddy with the R200 at the beginning of March, I still have PLENTY of ink in the reservoirs.

For as much as I print, I know I'm going to save anywhere from $750-$1000 a year by not buying Epson ink. Too bad the Caddy won't work with the RX line of printers.

For as much as I print, I know I'm going to save anywhere from $750-$1000 a year by not buying Epson ink. Too bad the Caddy won't work with the RX line of printers.

Oops! I'll take it back tomorrow.

Grazie

I gave up on Epson printers after our 4th unit started having nozzle issues, just like the ones before it. I'm now a Canon Man. The IP series printers can print beautifully on the TY Watershield disks, the genuine Canon ink is inexpensive, and the printers seem bulletproof. Oh, and they can AUTO-DUPLEX! I wonder how it turns the paper around when it does that...

A few interesting links:

Epson R260 (my printer)

73 Reviews
5 star: (14)
4 star: (13)
3 star: (6)
2 star: (13)
1 star: (27)
Average: 2.6 stars

Epson RX585 (Grazie's Printer)

33 Reviews
5 star: (14)
4 star: (8)
3 star: (3)
2 star: (2)
1 star: (6)
Average: 3.7

MUCH better ... but look at this ...

Canon IP4500

76 Reviews
5 star: (51)
4 star: (19)
3 star: (2)
2 star: (1)
1 star: (3)
Average: 4.5

Wow, now we're cooking with gas!!

I haven't used this printer, but I have become so desperate to get rid of my horrible Epson R260 printer that I spent quite a bit of time researching which printer would be the best. The HP D5360 was also mentioned, but this Canon always seems to come to the top, and certainly this Amazon user review comparison bears this out.

The good news for Grazie is his Epson model appears to have a happier user base than the almost universal dissatisfaction expressed by users at the piece of ... engineering ... that I own (someone gave it to me -- I would never have purchased something that had already had such horrible reviews as this printer).

The only problem with the Canon IP4500 is that apparently in the U.S.A., you may still need to purchase the tray on eBay because of patent issues with the Epson patent on CD/DVD printing. Not sure yet if that is really true ...

My understanding is that the old R200 was a fantastic printer.

Ummm. I wore out two of them pretty quickly, just printing discs.

Then I got an R320, slightly better but also wore out ridiculously quickly.

Now I'm using an R800, and thanks to a better tray mechanism it lasted a bit longer. But this one is now also worn out and I don't plan to buy another Epson printer ever.

Contributing is also that I haven't been able to find G&G inks for it, they were the only really good non-OEM ink cartridges I ever found. Anyone seen these today?

Canon next, I can't stand Epsons any more.

I should add that I don't ink-jet print my discs, just the DVD covers (which of course use much more ink). I use a Casio thermal printer for the discs.

2 side notes to add...

After using the epson printable inkjet R260 and the Canon ip4500 I'll stick with the canon. the print was simply AWSOME and NOT ONE JAMUP : )

I agree with the other poster...hopefully epson has fixed it's dics printing problems.

the other note
is that the verbatim white printables ARE GREAT looking. They are not water smear proof however so warning clients may be the way to go. I tried buying some clear enamel and WHAT A MESS.

I'm going to try (already ordered) the TY watershield discs.
Discmakers has a hydroshield however my problem with them is they are off white and not pure white like the verbatims. But they are waterproof and work well if you do a whole print. It's splitting hairs but I like the 100% white discs.

I'll let everyone know how the TY match up to Discmakers hydroshields.

But I love the verbatims and my finished product looked GREAT.

Aug

I was shipped a sample Hydroshield disk a couple of years ago, but don't know if they are using a different product now. The Diskmakers Hydroshield disk I received was just a TY Watershield disk. Perhaps they've changed since then; certainly the one I was shipped back then was pure white, just like the current TY blanks.

The Canon IP printers look a bit like junk with their glossy plastic surfaces, but seem to work very well. I would recommend the older models, simply because the ink cartridges are not chipped, so you can use anything in them. Furthermore, my IP3000 printers use just CMYK cartridges, so there's no hassle of an extra tank (or three extra tanks for the later models, I think). Another benefit over the Epsons is that you can swap out the nozzle assembly if it should ever fail--something I couldn't do with my Epsons.

I have used generic inks, but Wilhelm Imaging says the genuine Canon inks will fade much more slowly, so perhaps I'm "penny wise and pound foolish."

As I think Craftech has posted before, it's easy to find the DVD/CD trays for these printers on eBay, and the process for upgrading your USA Canon printer to disk printing is relatively painless. You need a tray, a roller assembly, a specific non-USA driver, and I recall a firmware tweak. Sounds difficult, but it's not, and takes just a few minutes. Here's a link to a "B" tray and roller assembly, which is the type used on the IP3000. Other Canon models might require other tray models, but this link shows what's involved. You can buy pretty much any older Canon printer from eBay. Some sellers even have sealed-box printers--what, do they buy a bunch and then wait 5 years to sell them?

The tray mechanism appears to be bulletproof and registration is good enough that I can overprint a second time to get deeper blacks and colors.

I hate to be dumping on the Epson printers I had--I printed a lot of labels with them, and the pigment inks they used had wonderful characteristics such as fade and water resistance. But when the nozzles start plugging up, they became useless for serious printing tasks.

HP printers are ready for disc printing in the USA right out of the box. Nothing more to add and no other drivers to find.

The only problem with the Canon IP4500 is that apparently in the U.S.A., you may still need to purchase the tray on eBay because of patent issues with the Epson patent on CD/DVD printing. Not sure yet if that is really true ...

John,
If you get into trouble with Canon this way, just contact me and I can probably help you out. We are Canon distributors where I work, and we have great relations to Canon Denmark.

I have 2 pcs. of Canon IP5300, and they are great. Have not tried to change cartr. yet, but you need to move a small print-plate from the org. cartr. to the compatible ones to get them to work, but it should be easy.
There is one thing a bid irritating though. I often print 100 discs at a time, and for every 2 og 3 discs it print it has to do a small calibration or something, it's not a cleaning, just moving the head a few times, and that takes some sec. No big deal when only print a few discs, but when you go for 100 and you are a bid late for the client, you don't want this.

/Ulf

Until 3 days ago I had 4 printers capable of printing DVDs: 2 x Epson R210 (effectively same as R200), a Canon ip4300 and a Canon ip4500. But I've just moved house and decided just to take the Canons and leave the Epsons behind for the landlord or next tenants to battle with. I was going to run over them with the pickup and put the video on YouTube but i ran out of time.

They became an increasing nightmare after the first couple of hundred discs. One in fact effectively died and the other one needed babysitting for every disc and was hellishly expensive on ink because of all the waste that John Meyer describes.

Don't want to pee on your bonfire though Grazie and perhaps the newer generation of Epsons have improved.

What a great avalanche of honest feedback I got. THANK YOU!!

My in-house DVD face-printing requirements are truly in the humble numbers category. If I was to think of printing off 100s on this printer, eh . . . I think I would be looking elsewhere? If my clients or I want 100s > 1k numbers then I have plenty of contacts that run them out very cheaply PLUS the DVD duping/burning. I'd rather hand-over the headaches to these guys. But who knows.

OK, I have now completed several DVD face passes, and of course, at this earliest of stages, it all looks peachy-poo (Grazie-ism there!). I have also done a 4x5 contact sheet of photo thumbnails, onto HP Photo paper, and the results look amazing.

So, now 48 hours in, I think for the many "other" reasons too (scanner, print<>copier, card reader and LCD thingie) this Epo will remain. It has to now, I have had to rearrange my shelving to accom the TOP feeding that my HP Deskjet didn't require.

Pee on my bonfire? - Nah! However, talk to me in 2>3>4 months when I have a need to run 10>20>30 DVDs and the tanks are running on vapours, and there is the JM jamming. But, "Hope" springs eternal . . . . maybe I got this in the "Nick" of time!!!

You are great people - luvs yah all!

Grazie

Oops! - Meant to thank John M for putting together that satisfaction review - Thanks John!

Grazie

Meant to thank John M for putting together that satisfaction review - Thanks John!You're welcome. I did it because in my first post I realized that I might have caused you to experience "buyer's remorse" that might not actually be warranted. So I thought I'd try to find some factual information that would either encourage you to take it back, or else make you feel you did the right thing. As you can see from the numbers, my printer is clearly a d-o-g, but yours will probably work just fine. However, if you ever do it again, definitely look at the Canon or HP.

Ever since my five years in the desktop publishing business, where all the printer companies sent us their printers for free, I have always purchased HP printers. To this day, except for the complaints about bloated printer drivers (which can be overcome in most cases) I have yet to hear complaints about HP that are anything like those Epson has engendered. Most of these complaints result from Epson's ill-advised attempts to engineer their printers to consume as much ink as possible, while forcing their customers to purchase only Epson ink which is now by far the most expensive ink of the "big three" inkjet printer manufacturers.

Amen on HPs, at least as far as lasers go.

I have three lasers of different brands, the one that I just can't destroy is my HP 8100DN that has now just passed 1.2 million pages of all kinds from 20lb. letter size to 11x17 doublesided near-cardboard, as well as envelopes of every conceivable size (for disc packaging).

My service guy says newer models are 50% faster (50 ppm instead of 32ppm), but they aren't built quite as sturdy. Also the toner in those cost way more, due to fewer 3rd party manufacturers (I like paying $25-$40 for a top quality 20,000 page cartridge instead of now $180 for an original HP OEM cartridge).

I am glad to see that they are providing some competition in inkjets also, but have not yet heard them mentioned in the same breath as Epson and Canon for color printing.

And, please, can't somebody create a color laser with really good picture quality?

Today I can't find one for less than several thousand bucks, and even then it is not perfect.

"have not yet heard them mentioned in the same breath as Epson and Canon for color printing"

Really? Strange. The *only* good mentions i've ever seen of Epson's color inject printing is Epson's own ads and press releases. I have always liked HP's color better. It's much more lifelike. Epson always seems to overcompensate for the failings of inkjet printing and ends up with oversaturated colors with poor shading. HP nailed the shading problem early on with their variable density drops. Epson's bizarrely high resolution was no substitute.

Chienworks:
I really cannot agree with your consensus at all. My Epson R1800 blew away any HP printer that I saw. And not talking about standard inkjet paper.
JJK