Looking for a professional finish to your recorded disks? Then you need a CD DVD printer!
How many CD or DVDs do you plan on doing a year? If it’s only one or two you may want to simply use special markers to write directly on the CD/DVD.
Another option for just a few print jobs every now and then is to use a regular inkjet printer. You can use your printer to print adhesive labels to stick on your disk. But they ’sticky’ label option should be used with caution on DVDs. These labels can actually damage your DVD player! So beware.
If you’re going to attach label to more than just a few disks, the task can be time consuming too and a bit expensive. For a professional look to your disks, upgrading to a CD DVD printer is the way to go. These print directly on the disk. Let’s look at the most popular types of CD DVD printers on the market today.
Thermal CD Printers
Thermal CD printers combine heat and pressure to permanently transfer solid colors from special coated ribbons onto the surface of your disk. These ribbons may have just one or a whole variety of colors. Your CD DVD printer will come equipped with the necessary software from the manufacturer. The good news is that thermal CD DVD printers provide a very durable finish. The bad news is that the output is only 300 X 600 dots per inch. Not all that spectacular!
Thermal printers are a very good choice for simple designs and for text. They leave a lot to be desired when it comes to mixing colors. And you will not get photographic quality with a thermal CD DVD printer.
Thermal Retransfer Printers
The best of the bunch for CD DVD printers is the Thermal retransfer models. These will provide you photo quality results and they are very durable. What’s the difference between a regular thermal printer and a thermal retransfer? It’s all in the technology. Thermal retransfer printers use an interim ribbon first preserving the color image. This extra step produces much more vibrant colors.
Inkjet printers
Next up is something you may already have experience with, an old standby: an inkjet printer. With inkjet printers, you get excellent high quality resolution of color images. This results in photographic-quality finishes.
Inkjet printers work by ejecting tiny droplets of ink onto the surface of the CD. The color is from ink cartridges and not ribbons like thermal printers.
Auto-loading CD Printers
Auto-loading CD printers can get the job done quickly when you have a number of disks to do. No manually loading CDs or DVDs with these little wonders. It’s all accomplished by the technology built inside.
Some auto-loaders can only handle 20 disks at a time where a more robust model can take on as many as 300! Auto-loading CD printers are available in thermal or inkjet.
Integrated CD DVD Printers and Duplicators
If you’re looking for a true publishing answer for printing AND duplicating many disks, than an integrated CD DVD printer is what you need. These come in inkjet or thermal printing modalities.
CD DVD Printer Points To Ponder
If you need photographic quality, pass up on thermal CD printers. But if you just print simple graphics or just text, thermal printers are a good option.
Thermal printers produce a finish that’s very durable, and since no ink is involved, there’s no drying time. And with a thermal printer, your finish project will not smear or start to peel off. For the highest quality, durable finish, thermal retransfer printers are an excellent choice.
And if you’re really pumping out the projects, an Auto-loading CD DVD printer, either thermal or inkjet, is your ticket to getting a big job done fast.
For printing and or copying DVDs and CDs, an integrated printer and duplicator is the tool of choice.
Another option when you desire a photographic quality print is an inkjet printer. With it’s high resolution, you get color, crisp prints. But since it is ink afterall, there are hazards involved such as smearing. The humidity in the air can effect drying time as well.
There certainly is a wide range of prices for CD DVD printers. As far as prices go, starting at the low end are inkjet printers. Next up is the thermal CD printer. The most expensive is the transfer printers. The manual disk printers, although not as quick at processing multiple disks, are way less expensive than the Auto-loading models.
So you can see, there are many options available for you when choosing the appropriate CD DVD printer. But there is the right model for your specific printing needs!
