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Hi Guys,

I'm trying to do some research into some of the various inkjet Printable media out there, and I'm curious about People's opinions on drying time. Which of the listed disc types, takes the LONGEST time to dry. Please feel free to also post in this thread with comments about which discs you think give the cleanest or best looking print also.

Please note that the discs listed in the poll are chosen for a reason, so please don't ask me to ADD any (or remove any). Please choose the worst drying time from the list, and then feel free to post about even worse ones in the thread.

Be advised that the results of this post, and this thread in its' entirety will be forwarded to some or all of the brand names in question.

Sorry, the only DVD-R inkjet printable media that I have tried were TDK 8x PrintOn discs.

TDK 8x PrintOn DVD+R media (Ritek R03) dry very fast when printed with my Epson Stylus Photo R320 printer. I've heard similar comments made for their (Ritek's) -R media as well, though disc quality is definitely in question compared to some of the other brands on your list.

thegdog wrote:Sorry, the only DVD-R inkjet printable media that I have tried were TDK 8x PrintOn discs.

TDK 8x PrintOn DVD+R media (Ritek R03) dry very fast when printed with my Epson Stylus Photo R320 printer. I've heard similar comments made for their (Ritek's) -R media as well, though disc quality is definitely in question compared to some of the other brands on your list.

All comments are deffinately welcome, even regarding media not on my above list for the poll! The plan is to show some big wigs, how the consumers rate their media, and their competition's media.

So by all means, please post about your TDKs

I've got some of the older TDK 8x printables and some GQ cd's as well. They all seem to take a little time to dry but not a huge amount. I usually set them on top of my lamp shade to cook for a bit just to makes sure. I Dont remember the mid codes right now, TDK seems to use whatever is cheapest for them anymore.

only ever used ritek and currently my favorite hub printable, TY

they both seem to take the same amount of time drying, maybe TY would be tiny bit faster in drying though

Dartman wrote:I've got some of the older TDK 8x printables and some GQ cd's as well. They all seem to take a little time to dry but not a huge amount. I usually set them on top of my lamp shade to cook for a bit just to makes sure. I Dont remember the mid codes right now, TDK seems to use whatever is cheapest for them anymore.

Uhhh, I *REALLY* don't recommend "cooking" your printed media....

Hey we all ready burn it, might as well make sure it's well done... It's a flourecent bulb anyways, just gets warm enough to help set the ink. I dont really print that many, some of my favorite backups and special disks, rest get sharpies.

hoxlund wrote:they both seem to take the same amount of time drying, maybe TY would be tiny bit faster in drying though

Interesting. When I asked for feedback on inkjet printable media before, I was told that TY's inkjet printables weren't that good. While the media was good, the quality of the printing surface was actually subpar compared to other brands.

I just ordered some Verbatim 8x hub inkjet printable DVD+R media, and am looking forward to seeing how that looks after printing.

Dartman wrote:I Dont remember the mid codes right now, TDK seems to use whatever is cheapest for them anymore.

My TDK 8x PrintOn media MID codes were:

DVD+R: Ritek R03

DVD-R: TTG 02

Both dry very fast. I burned a +R disc last night, printed on it, and slid my finger across the surface about 5 minutes later and nothing came off on my finger and nothing on the face smudged.

No "cooking" required.

I'm sorry, I can't help you much- I use mostly plus media: Verbatim (MCC003, 004) and Platinum (RicohJpn R02) and of course CD-Rs (Verbatim DLP). These dry so quickly after printing in my Canon i865 that I've never smudged one.

c't had a test on printable media and printers a couple of months ago. If you're interested, I can look that up this weekend.

G

MediumRare wrote:I'm sorry, I can't help you much- I use mostly plus media: Verbatim (MCC003, 004) and Platinum (RicohJpn R02) and of course CD-Rs (Verbatim DLP). These dry so quickly after printing in my Canon i865 that I've never smudged one.

c't had a test on printable media and printers a couple of months ago. If you're interested, I can look that up this weekend.

G

If I could edit the poll. I'd add little "+" signs in there too

I'd love to see what C't has to say on inkjet printable media though!!

dolphinius_rex wrote:I'd love to see what C't has to say on inkjet printable media though!!

OK- here goes.

The c't test of printers and printable media was in issue 21/2005 (4 Oct.). They looked at 4 printers, 11 DVD and 8 CD types. The test concerned the printing properties of the 4x19 combinations, not the burning properties of the media. They also rated the bundled printing programs (Canon: CD-Labelprint, Epson: PrintCD).

The printers were:
- Canon iP3000 (4 colour, A3)
- Canon i9950 (8 colour, A3)
- Epson Stylus Photo R320 (6 colour, A4)
- Epson Stylus Photo R1800 (8 colour, A3)

The media was rated for UV stabilty, smear resistance and printing quality per printer. Obviously, the c't printer team (not optical media) was in charge, because they exposed the discs to 100 hours of strong UV radiation to see if the pigments would fade (equivalent to ca. 1 year direct sunligt behind glass). Of course the colours changed (particularly Canon) - but I suspect the disc quality suffered much more than the colours did (they didn't check ).

Smear resistance was tested with a yellow highlighter after one day and again after a week. Most discs didn't do well here- esp. together with the Epson printers.

This smear resistance isn't really related to the drying time in question here, but the positive results (+) in this regard were found for:
- Seiko DVD-R Printable white (TTH01) ?x
- TDK DVD+R Photo Quality Inkjet Printable (TDK 002 (000)) 8x
- Traxdata DVD-R white hub printable (Ritekg05) 8x
- Memorex Print CD-R (CMC)
- Ritek (Conrexx) Toprint CD-R 52x (Ritek)
- Traxdata CD-R 80 White hub printable (Ritek)
- Verbatim Printable CD-R (Verbatim)
Negative results (--):
- Ricoh DVD+R Ultraspeed (RICOHJPN R03 (001)) 16x
- Ricoh DVD+R DL (RICOHJPN D00 (001)) 2.4x
- Taiyo Yuden CD-R printable white
- Sony CD-R printable (Sony)

Other types were indifferent to poor (0 or - in c't rating).

The printing quality depends on the combination of printer and medium. The (more expensive) A3 printers did best.

G