I just bought a r260 for about $50 that prints about twice as fast (1.5 vs. 2-3 minutes) as the r200 I recently wore out as well. I think you can get a r280 (supposed to be a little faster than the r260 even) for about $60. Also the multi r595 (that prints on DVDs) for about $100-150. The 260 on use a new ink (6 cartriges still) that is suppose to be more fade and scratch resistant.

Thanks..I was looking at the wrong searches...the keyword "disc" instead of "DVD printer" showed more results.


IN1ACCORD; I'm curious to know, how did yours worn out?

Thanks for the tip, I'll looking into the r280

Does the r260 use the same ink cartrige as the R200?

I have an R260 and I have to say that the DVDs look really good. They print in under 2 minutes for full color.

I have the r260.

Good news: It make GREAT looking DVDs.

Bad news: It jams constantly and drinks ink like a drunken sailor (if sailors drank ink).

After any major jam, it goes through some sort of reset routine where it dumps huge amounts of ink (about 20% of the entire ink supply, according to my measurements). At retail, Epson ink costs $80 for six cartridges, so it costs about $15 in wasted ink after each major jam.

I used to run a desktop publishing company and all the major companies would give us printers to test. I have used perhaps as many as 100 printers in my life. I have had fantastic results and good service life out of every HP printer. I have also heard many more good things about Canon printers, although I have less personal experience. As for the Epson printers, the r200 (the one you own) was apparently a great printer, but the r260 apparently is very unreliable (i.e., my experience is not unique).

However, just to be clear, when it prints the results are darn near perfect.

I gave up on the Epson's and that flimsy feeding tray.

I've been using this for a couple of years and I really like it.

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4007358

I had long wished that HP printers sold in the US had DVD-Printing capabilities. There were some models sold in other places around the world that did, but for some reason, the same model did not have that capability when sold in the US.

It appears that finally HP is providing this capability as several of their new models come with Disc Printing! Even one of their cheapest models D5160 ($45 on HP's site) can print on discs.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/photography/printer/1/storefronts/Q7091A%23ABA

As I ran out of ink for my Epson R220 (which I was never really happy with), I think I'll be picking one of these HP's the next time I need to print a bunch of discs.

Hopefully HP can write their drivers to be withing 5 years of the current technology. My first HP 3C scanner took about 5 years to get a decent driver, the second HP scanner I purchased they gave up and said they would not write a driver for XP. The same with my aunt's all- in one HP that didn't work for a couple of years. Don't even try to get them to work in Vista, especially with Internet Explorer 7. But don't get me wrong, I used to use HP test equipment in the 60's and 70's and it was top shelf stuff, second to Western Electric.
JJK

I heard and have been reading that the R260 is an ink sink...that after 30 disc prints you'll empty out a cartridge...tell me it isn't so!!

HP hardware is pretty decent but they just don't know how to write drivers!

I also prefer a printer with separate ink tanks for all the colors. I have one client that uses a lot of cyan in their dvd label graphics, I go through cyan ink at about a 3:1 ratio and it would bug me if I were using a single cartridge system and had to throw away cartridges that were empty of cyan ink but had 80% of the other ink left.

I agree, HP drivers are absolutely pathetic. Then again, 10 years ago Epson drivers were even worse. That's why i use the Microsoft drivers for HP printers whenever possible. For my new Photosmart C5280 i installed the HP software only on my Windows server, shared the printer, and then connected to that server from my other PCs letting Windows install the shared driver rather than the whole HP software suite. Printing from my PCs is a fast and flawless process. Printing directly from the server is pain and frustration.

I'll attest that the Photosmart series prints on discs amazingly well. The image is slightly less saturated than printing on normal paper, but you probably wouldn't notice it unless you did a side-by-side comparison.

A question on the Photosmart C5280..how is the CD/DVD software? Can I add background pics, any-size text font and types w/o shadows, and re-alignment

I loved my Epson Easy CD creator!

Thanks

I heard and have been reading that the R260 is an ink sink...that after 30 disc prints you'll empty out a cartridge...tell me it isn't so!!

It uses ink MUCH faster than any HP inkjet printer, and as I noted earlier, when it goes into an unwelcome reset cycle after a jam, the waste is unbelievable. The 20% figure I quoted is not an exaggeration.

While there several options I have stuck with Epson over the last few years. I have had the R200 and R220 and I personally felt that these printers were well built owed me nothing when they retired.

I now have a R260, which I have had some frustrations with, but it is still working. I also have the RX595 and have absolutely no problems with it. If you can find a R260 for $50.00 its worth the money.

Ink... Sams Club has in sold in the six cartridge set for $60.00. The generic / refill ink does a descent job for much less money. I did experience what may have been a cartridge / chip issue. I am not real familiar with the design, but I guess Printer Manufactures will redesign their chips that make the generic company's play catch up.

Chad

Julius, i have no idea. I've never even run the CD/DVD software that came with the printer. I use the same old page layout software i've used for a decade to design my disc with. I change the printer setup to the PhotoSmart printer and select the CD/DVD tray, and then my page automatically shows a design area appropriate for printing on a disc. Since it's software i'm already familiar with and it works very well i've had no reason to look at the software that HP supplies.

In fact, judging by other HP software i've used over the years i'm about 113% certain that i NEVER want to run it, ever! It annoys me that HP installed it on my server without asking me if i wanted it or not. *sheesh* The base software install for this printer with all options deselcted was about 223MB. That should be illegal. I bet that the actual printer driver, which is the only part i'm using, is under 1MB.

I'm still using my R200 and it's printing well and I really don't mind having to give a boost to the plastic tray that prints CD/DVD's. You see it, gets stuck (after about the third usage) but it still does a good job and I like the Epson software that came with it.

Fry's has an Epson R1400 that prints 4x6's fast plus CD/DVD's and it's on sale today for $269.

Generally, I do not like Epson, but Fry's now has a deal that you get a complete replacement (one time only) if something goes wrong in your extended warranty period and this helps.

My main thing with printers is that I don't trust anything that has to lift the paper into the printing position. I rather like the gravity-feed type. Less problems. That's why I chose Epson over HP.
Burt Wilson

"A question on the Photosmart C5280..how is the CD/DVD software? Can I add background pics, any-size text font and types w/o shadows, and re-alignment"
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I had the Epson R320 and now I have the C5280.

The C5280 is a MUCH better printer!!! It's a hell of a lot faster and the CD tray is a lot more dependable and solid. The ink is handled better too. You can completely exhaust an ink tank and continue to run the printer (unlike the R320... one ink tank runs dry and the printer shuts down). I also like the fact that the print heads are built into the cartridge so they get changed with each ink change. The printing is always sharp and clear.

On the down side.... the software is not as good. You are supplied with roxio's free version of cd/dvd labeler which is good for absolutely nothing. I use photoshop (which has a cd labeler built in), save the labels as jpg's and then use nero labeler to print to disk.

I absolutely love this printer though. You lose Epson's better software... but I think it's a good trade-off.

Two quick points:

1. For those frustrated with HP bloated drivers, some models have "corporate" drivers available at the HP site. Use Google to see if you can find these for your model. Also, some printers can use the less bloated drivers for older models. This is definitely true for the "Photosmart" printers.

2. For Epson ink, the quality of the printing is so good (when it isn't jamming or dumping ink) that I hate to cripple my R260 by using generic ink. I have found multiple sources on eBay (if you are comfortable with using them) that sell non-refilled, original Epson cartridges for far less money. I suspect that most of these come from new printers where they strip out the ink and sell the printer bare. The sharp operator can actually make more money this way. I generally pay less than $50, delivered, for genuine Epson ink.

Julius,

Try messing with the Epson resetting utility before trashing the R200.

There is also the R200 Adjustment Program that will do the above plus perform diagnostics.

You can also download the service manual here. You will need to click on 0,1,2 and 3 to download all 4 parts.

John

"and then use nero labeler to print to disk."

I can't speak for the Epson printers, but with the HP models there's no need to go to any particular other software to print. Any Windows-based program that can print can also print on discs directly. Go to printer setup, chose the printer, then set the media to CD/DVD. The page settings in whatever software you're using will change to reflect the printable area of the disc. You can do this from photoshop or any other photo editing program, page layout software, Word, heck even from Excel if you really wanted to.

Hi Craftech,

I have used the adjustment program you linked to some time ago and with the info at:
http://www.epsondevelopers.com/documents/CDDVDTemplate.pdf

I simply use a paint program (PSP) to generate a multilayer PSD file.
Works great and it comes out as designed.

I use a paint program (PSP) to print my discs. See my reply to craftech below if
using Epsons.

You have so much more control.

I use a paint program (PSP) to print my discs. See my reply to craftech below if
using Epsons.

You have so much more control.