Disc Duplication and Printing: Ink Jet VS Dye Sublimation

[Chugach3DGuy]

Does anyone out there in there in the freelance world provide disc duplication as a secondary service? I have a very small duplicator and manual feed disc printer, but I'm looking into upgrading to a machine that can handle larger jobs.

I'm trying to compare and contrast inkjet based disc publishers (Epson Discproducer) and dye sublimation publishers (Teac P55 printer). I have plenty of experience dealing with inkjet disc printers, and am familiar with all of their drawbacks. The dye sublimation printer looks like it has fewer drawbacks, but it is much more expensive. I also read someplace that dye sublimation printers don't print as sharp of an image compared to inkjets, but I haven't seen anything to support or deny it.

So, anyone who has worked with these kinds of machines before, please chime in and let me know which printer you would prefer and why.

 

[SoMissTV]

I own a Primera Bravo II and have been very happy with it. With the new waterproof discs that Verbatim and Taiyo-Yuden make, it's been a pretty good way to turn out a product.

 

[Chugach3DGuy]

I think you're one of the first people I've seen to give a Primera Bravo machine a good review. I've checked out a few other forums and read all kinds of negative things about them, which is why I've been looking more closely at Epson's PP-100 Disc Producer. It costs just 18 cents/disc, compared to the Primera models' 20 - 26 cents/disc.

I just found some machines by Rimage that use a process called Thermal Retransfer. This method of printing seems to be the absolute best, but wow does it come with a hefty price tag!

 

[dhart]

I have taken a different approach. I'll duplicate up to 25 discs for a client (use my internal MacPro DVD burner and HP Photosmart printer). Anything more than that and it's off to a duplicator. But hey, it's however you want to spend your time.

 

[Baltimore Shooter]

I would check out Discmakers.com.

Warren

 

[lbvp]

I have taken a different approach. I'll duplicate up to 25 discs for a client (use my internal MacPro DVD burner and HP Photosmart printer). Anything more than that and it's off to a duplicator. But hey, it's however you want to spend your time.

I wish I could the the HP printer to run more than 5 disks in row without having to stop and do printer preperation

 

[dhart]

I wish I could the the HP printer to run more than 5 disks in row without having to stop and do printer preperation

Yeah, I pretty much hate all ink jet printers. It took me a while to figure out HP weirdness but I know just where to smack it to make it print It does power thru the ink.

 

[Chugach3DGuy]

At my day job, they've got a couple of automated printers. One is by Microboards and uses HP technology. It prints out wonderful looking discs- when you can get the thing to work. That machine is the twitchiest thing ever. It goes from 100% functionality to 0% for any random reason. From changing the ink cartridge to not placing the discs in the hopper just so. The main duplicator/printer they use is a Rimage 2000i. It will burn up over 100 dvds inside of a day, but I can't stand the printer it uses. The boss doesn't replace the ink cartridges with new ones. Instead, he has them refilled, which makes printing turn into a random crap shoot. The ink level monitor doesn't quite work the same after a cartridge is refilled dozens of times, so you don't know if YELLOW 75% is really accurate. Because of this, you have to babysit the machine, thereby defeating the purpose of automation IMO.

There aren't any duplication services in my town that I can find that offer the kind of quality and price points I'd be happy with, and many of my projects that I would need duplication for aren't large enough to warrant sending it off to Discmakers. However, I've been surprised to learn that there are several businesses and places in town that need disc duplication. For those of you looking for a little extra money coming in, it's quite easy and doesn't take a whole lot of effort. Assuming you have some halfway decent graphic design skills...

 

[cameragod]

I have some friends with a dye sublimation printer while its hard to argue with the speed and quality of the print the printer itself has a few quirks, the most expensive being is it gets turned off for any reason it dumps $$$$ worth of dye.

 

[SoMissTV]

I printed 90 discs tonight on the Bravo with zero issues. I haven't experienced problems, save for a dirty unit that was in a building with lots of fine particulate dust. Once it was cleaned, it had no more problems.