I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this or not but, I am getting ready to buy a dvd printer & I want to get the right one the first time I read a lot of reviews & people are always buying a piece of crap. my main concern is buying one that will print on the most kinds of surface's. Which is more cost efficient, inkjet or thermal. & which looks better. Can someone mplease help me pick out a good printer because I've never bought one before & don't want to regret it!!!

* * Moved from Blank Media forum to CD & DVD Printing and Labeling forum * *

From what I've read, but I have no hands on experience...

Thermal disc printers print on all disc types and won't smear due to water/sweat/condensation in the field, unlike inkjet. Inkjets require inkjet-specific discs...and there are special (expensive?) water-resistant discs that can be used with inkjet to mitigate the smearing problem.

If you're printing tens of thousands of CD-Rs/DVD-Rs, thermal is said to be more cost efficient than inkjets (but then again, why aren't you replicating instead of duplicating and getting screen prints at that point?). In addition, the ribbons don't dry out if you do short runs, unlike inkjets. For smaller operations, inkjet may be more cost effective as the hardware costs are lower (even if the supply costs are higher): thermal disc printers are a heck of lot more expensive than inkjets, esp. if you have a need for color.

On the inkjet side, Microboards claims their supply costs for their publishers and duplicator/printers is substantially less than primera's. Don't know anything about rimage inkjets.

-brendan

I would just get an inkjet if you're doing it for personal use. If it's a more business-oriented deal, then the thermal might a better idea.