" there are a lot of folks using this process and I haven't heard of anyone with problems so far. "

That's the same thing people said about paper labels a few years back. Just something to think about :)
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"I wondered if it was a function of their printer or some after coating."

There are disc laminators out on the market that are designed for just this purpose. Chances are if they were a respectable place that you got your discs from they used a disc laminator and not spraypaint.

Yes. I did the math. At Newegg, a new printer - with ink cartridges - sells for $89. A full set of Epson ink cartridges sells for $92.50.

I believe that a full set of generic cartridges costs about $40.

Jan

YES< me,too RedEye, I went to a hobby store and bought, the clear acrylic spray designed for PHOTOS, prints protection, its absolutely safe, the look is beautifully professional, I HIGHLY recommend anyone with these Epson printers to NOT BE AFRAID of spraying your media, just do it correctly, the dull look of the InkJet printables is the ONLY problem I had, other than not waterproof, and WALA, therein lied the answer!. The brand I bought was PLAID, costs about 2 bucks, it too is CLEAR ACRYLIC SEALER, gloss, HEY, if its designed to protect your valuable photos, I would venture to say you can cover your DVD/Cd's with it; it is only coating the PRINTED ink coating you already printed on your DVD. Good Luck Y'all!

The product is designed to be safe for plastics and paper among other things. If you want to spend $3000 for a disc laminator, it's a free country, but if you do, you're probably not printing your discs on a $99 Epson. I'm producing about 20 disc per month, and for me it's a great solution.

If it helps here is the same stuff but labeled specifically for this purpose.
http://www.run-pc.net/product.asp?sku=CDprotector&a=12

Another very good solution is the $50 thermal printers. They are pretty much waterproof though you are resrticted to one or two colors.

OMG $15?!@?? a can? Screw this; think I'll use my printer, and relable my $3 dollar hobby acrylic spray, sell for $7.50 a can :-) 50% savings!

Since I started this thread, I thought I'd let you know that I got it and am happy with the results. For $89., It's better than I expected. It was "centered" on the very first disc. I didn't need to make adjustments and it was very simple to use. Now, I need to get some 'Krylon' and try that out. Thanks for your reviews, everybody.
Steve

I just picked up the R300M, and had the same experience. Beautiful pics and well centered prints on DVD with no adjustments. I'll save my Lexmark for sleeves and the like. Sure beats trying to print paper labels.

Also, I recently had a problem with my R300 and called in, thinking I needed to buy a replacement part. Without proof of purchase date, they determined I needed a replacement and set up a non-RMA swap that allows me to get the replacement BEFORE I send back the old unit. I've always been an HP person as far as printers go, but I can't turn away from that kind of customer service.
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Make sure you print out a copy of the tracking information. I returned an Epson 900 a few years ago under the same deal and they insisted they never got the old one. Fortunately I had a print out of the tracking information, but it took almost a year of going back and forth with Epson and three faxed tracking information copies before they straightened it out. They kept threatening to charge my credit card for the replacement they sent.

John

"HEY, if its designed to protect your valuable photos, I would venture to say you can cover your DVD/Cd's with it;"

So do you normally spin your photos around at extremely fast speeds and allow them to become very hot? I can't say whether or not spraying your CD's or DVD's is a good idea or not. I will take a guess here and say that somewhere down the road it will cause some problems for people that do this.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I'm changing my mind about doing it. I may experiment a little, but I started wondering, just how many people do I know that are going to be handling DVDs with really sweaty palms? As much as I'd like to think that they'll be playing my DVDs over and over again, the reality is, they'll most likely only play them a couple of times. I'm not selling them in stores yet. So most of the people I know, if they really ruin them, by somehow smearing the ink, well they can order another or learn how to handle them correctly. I don't need any extra steps in the half million steps I already have.

No one in this thread has mentioned whether the r200 inkjet cartridges have a chip on them as most Epson printers now have. If they do have a chip--which prevents one from using cheaper cartridges, there is a device out on the market that re-sets the chip on a used cartridge, making the printer think its a new cartridge. I've saved countless dollars using this re-setter. Then I refil my used cartridge using a black/color set which sells for $24.95 and from which you cana get about 5 or six fillings. I got my chip re-setter from an outfit in Russia. They run about $15-$18. Put "Epson chip re-setter" in your search engine.
Burt

Yes, the cartridges do have the chip so you can't refill them.

I had a 30-disc order to print up, and felt the price might justify investing in one of these two Epsons - I backed off when I discovered that they don't use the Durabrite ink system - that and the fact that they are shipped with starter cartridges, and a full set of cartridges was going to cost me the price of the printer - or slightly more - had previously read this thread, but not recently or I would have realized all of the above before going to the store.

After talking with a salesman there (this one seemed knowledgeable), I decided to stay with my Canon I960 for the current project and wait a bit to see what develops in the ink jet world.

I bought a C82 when they first came out - was super impressed with the quick drying properties of the Durabrite inks, but dissappointed with the speed, paper handling, and photo quality of this model, so took it back and exchanged for a Canon I850 (and, have since added the I960 - both use the same color cartridges - the I850 uses a larger Black cartridge - I think it has one or two less color cartridges, I don't remember for sure).

Anyhow, I've had pretty good results printing my labels on Avery #8694 clear plastic labels. They can be a challenge to apply, but, once you develop the knack, the results are quite good (depending on your label design, of course).

Just curious if anyone else has tried these and what you think.

Also, anyone care to speculate on the future of Epson's Durabrite system. If there were a good photo-level printer using these inks, I'd buy one tomorrow. My dissappointment with the C82 that I tried had to do with the way that printer handled black and white photos. The project I was producing used a label included a BW photo that had been colorized in a few areas. The C82 could not properly combine the color portions of the image while simultaneously maintaing/reproducing proper greyscale values.

Epson tech rep told me something about the BW portion being composite - and that the black cartridge wasn't Durabrite, but pigment based, or something to that effect - it's been a couple of years.

I noticed yesterday that, except for one "all-in-one" model, two regular inkjets, and a dedicated little 4 x 6 printer, most of the current Epson printers don't use the Durabrite inks. Is there a problem with that system - will it be viable down the road?

Sorry for the length and meandering - and thanks for any comments.

Caruso

I don't know about durabrite inks, but for $99 or less Epson delivers an outstanding disc printer that makes great output. I have also started experimenting with someones suggestion earlier to apply some acrylic spray to the printed side. So far so good. Got cheapo can of Krylon® Acrylic Crystal Clear and after a couple of coats the discs look beautiful. I think this sealing process will make the ink vibrancy last until the cows come home, with college degrees.