Hi... am new and sharing my built up experience from the last several weeks w/ my new epson r220 inkjet. I wanted to make some dvd inserts:
1. Memorex DVD inserts (abt. $15 for 25) suk. Stay away! I spent a lot of time designing an insert, and when I printed out on this memorex crap it looked amateurish and I figured I had wasted my time. I tried all different settings -- text & images, photo, best photo; bright paper, photo, matte photo etc. The bright paper setting worked best, so these insert are simply not photo quality.
2. Fellowes/NEATO DVD inserts are fairly good. Expensive though.
3. Epson Heavy Matte Photo Paper is great! As an experiment (when I had such crappy results with the memorex) I printed my inserts on some of this 8 1/2 x 11 paper -- and was shocked at the difference with the memorex, and even the Fellowes... a photo collage in the design looked crisp and sharp... excellent.
This paper _was_ on sale at Staples for $5 (regular $13) and I had bought a couple boxes of 50. I've been to 3 different Staples in MD trying to find it again, but the sales is over. That's how great I think this paper is -- I want to squirrel away as much of it as I can.
4. Kodak Premium glossy paper is awful. Though I wasn't making inserts, just to experiment I tried printing my insert on this paper and the results were crappy... splotchy.
5. Epson Premium glossy paper is excellent -- as compared to the Kodak. But the Epson Matte looks just as good as this very, very expensive paper! So that's $5 for the Heavy Matte vs. $32 for this Premium Glossy. Amazing. And, not criticizing this glossy paper at all.
Regarding labelling software, SureThing is the best I've found, and I purchased it ($20). What comes with the memorex inserts is pure garbage (the inserts appear sideways on your screen... I'm not kidding... you have to tilt your head or monitor to design them... memorex... what kind of crappy company would put out something like this... I'd avoid their stuff or be wary). There's some other's... like Nero's that aren't bad, but are limited. SureThing is awkward to use, but it does have useful features the other's don't.
For dvd labels themselves, nothing beats the Epson Print CD software that comes with their R220 (and I suppose other's in the series) printers -- excellent and easy to use.
-- rc
1. Memorex DVD inserts (abt. $15 for 25) suk. Stay away! I spent a lot of time designing an insert, and when I printed out on this memorex crap it looked amateurish and I figured I had wasted my time. I tried all different settings -- text & images, photo, best photo; bright paper, photo, matte photo etc. The bright paper setting worked best, so these insert are simply not photo quality.
2. Fellowes/NEATO DVD inserts are fairly good. Expensive though.
3. Epson Heavy Matte Photo Paper is great! As an experiment (when I had such crappy results with the memorex) I printed my inserts on some of this 8 1/2 x 11 paper -- and was shocked at the difference with the memorex, and even the Fellowes... a photo collage in the design looked crisp and sharp... excellent.
This paper _was_ on sale at Staples for $5 (regular $13) and I had bought a couple boxes of 50. I've been to 3 different Staples in MD trying to find it again, but the sales is over. That's how great I think this paper is -- I want to squirrel away as much of it as I can.
4. Kodak Premium glossy paper is awful. Though I wasn't making inserts, just to experiment I tried printing my insert on this paper and the results were crappy... splotchy.
5. Epson Premium glossy paper is excellent -- as compared to the Kodak. But the Epson Matte looks just as good as this very, very expensive paper! So that's $5 for the Heavy Matte vs. $32 for this Premium Glossy. Amazing. And, not criticizing this glossy paper at all.
Regarding labelling software, SureThing is the best I've found, and I purchased it ($20). What comes with the memorex inserts is pure garbage (the inserts appear sideways on your screen... I'm not kidding... you have to tilt your head or monitor to design them... memorex... what kind of crappy company would put out something like this... I'd avoid their stuff or be wary). There's some other's... like Nero's that aren't bad, but are limited. SureThing is awkward to use, but it does have useful features the other's don't.
For dvd labels themselves, nothing beats the Epson Print CD software that comes with their R220 (and I suppose other's in the series) printers -- excellent and easy to use.
-- rc
