I've been searching for one of these inexpensive printers without success so far. If anyone could save me some time, could you just tell me what is the least expensive printer I could get to print on DVDs?

Thread split from this one in the LR.

imkidd57 is in UK. What's your location?

From the username I'm guessing the US

Anyway - you may be able to pick up a less recent model of any disc printer for a good price - I picked up an Epson R265 (there are newer models) for only £50 earlier this year.

Sure it's older but it does what I want, print discs

I am using Canon iP5000. fast, compact and sleek easy loading as it uses a loader. Cheap compatible inks too £1.99 per colour , got 5 ink cartridges. I tried to re-fill the inks cartridges too and it worked but do it upside down and careful not to damage the rubber plug. insert filling needle in the side of the rubber located on the top of the cartridge and put a drop of super glue when finished to maintain the air pressure. Now you can pick it up for 60 pounds I think. Check it up!

if your thinking about using compatable ink, i read this at SVP

just a heads up

Hehe, thanks BJ

It's not the cost of the printer you should be looking at, but the cost to USE it. Disc printing uses a fair amount of ink, much like printing photo paper. I'd go with anything that uses separate ink tanks, as opposed to a single color tank/cart.

i was thinking about getting one, as the original carts for my canon are a wee bit cheaper than the epson printer & the running costs would be cheaper if the compats worked, i think i'm too late now

You can get a Canon IP4300 from Staples for $59 plus tax right now if you don't mind a $40 rebate. The ink alone costs more than that. You will have to get a CD/DVD tray off ebay though to print discs. I just bought one and I like mine.

I would suggest getting the tray before you buy the printer.

If you just want text you could try the Casio CW50. Its pretty cheap.

My Canon iP5000 bundled all with the loader tray. A good software comes with it too. You can pick up the compatibles ink in eBay one colour can print 200+CD's. Don't believe on the earlier threatening warnings of Printer makers that if your printer becomes broken because you use a compatible ink you will just throw away the printer anyway. LOL The compatibles are just as good as the OEM's they use the same ink so I gathered. I never use use OEM carts cos they are more expensive than buying a new printer with ink. Looks like buy a new ink carts with a free printer. well, I'll be honest the only problem I know with the iP5000 is you can not print right to the inner hole not llike the epson. aside from that excellent easy to change inks two paper compartments top and bottom selctable with a switch. i can not endorse enough

European models come with the tray, USA models do not. There are about 6 different trays, so make sure you get the one for your model printer. Your printer will tell which tray it requires after you enable the CD/DVD printing feature. You will also have to enable the CD/DVD printing through the service menu on USA models, but it is really simple. I also have an Epson R380. The Canon just feels like alot better printer, but the Epson is pretty good also. The CD tray for the Canon is ALOT better than the Epson tray also. I just don't like the way people say Epson's use alot of ink for cleaning nozzles constantly and the clogging problems.

Hi,
Staples is Out of Stock for the moment. I'll keep an eye on that to see if they get more. The only reason I wanted this is to print DVD labels, so I don't want to pay very much or I'll just keep labling with a Sharpie for a while.

The price inches up I see with having to buy a tray and printer cable. Is the software in place to do the label printing?

Cheers.

Hi,The cable is a standard USB cable, so nothing special and should be cheap. My Canon IP4200 (european model) came with software, including a disc printing tool. I haven't tried yet. If you own a copy of Nero, then Nero Cover Designer should also work.

Michael

They are out of stock online, but if you are near a store, they may have some in stock. I bought mine in store when the website was out of stock. You can download the printing software from the canon website or use something like Acoustica or Nero as mentioned.

Oh OK. I'll take a look in the stores. And I have Nero. I've use the designer for LightScribe now. Thanks for suggestions.

I am planning to buy the HP Photosmart D5160. Newegg is now selling them for $80. I'm sure I won't have trouble with the print heads.

I now have an Epson R220 that I bought new on eBay for $60. About twice a month one or two of the six print heads will plug. It needs constant maintenance. The six ink cartridges are a joke.

A few months ago all the cartridges were getting low so I bought a six pack. The yellow and black ran out and the others had about 8% left. So I replaced only the yellow and black. Then the printer primed the cartridges. All six cartridges were primed. Now the yellow and black showed 100% but the rest showed 2%.

A week later I had to replace the other four. Again it primed all six. Now four cartridges showed 100% but the yellow and black showed 92%.

I should have changed all six at once

Re: Canon iPxxxx

The Canon utilities are very good you don't need any other software to design and print. Easy to import anything, crop, expand and a good functionality. Though got a limited library. What I did was to copy the NERO label designer library and other picture libraries like my DVD logo collection and added it to the canon library or just copy it to your Document folder for easy access and there you go you have a thousand clip arts and pictures at your disposal. The problem using other designer was the alignment at least the canon one you just adjust the outside and inside hole diameter by few mm and centre the hole markings and up you go. The ink level detector also was very accurate gives you a warning "low ink"way in advance. Don't change inks until the warning "no ink" showed. with £1.99 a colour compatibles you can't complain. Use silver or white top printables no problem. Riteks surface improved a lot now not like before that finger oil marks just desolves the varnish coat on the silver top now they are as good as taiyo Yuden surface.