Customer Reviews

Dymo DiscPainter CD/DVD Color Printer (1738260)

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(59)

 

 

At the end of every year, I print labels for around 75 DVDs and have tried a few solutions over the year. Sticky labels were quick to print, but took forever to peel off, and stick on (even with a stomper), and would often jam in the users disc drive (especially on laptops). A couple years ago I got an Epson R series inkjet and things started off great. It print straight onto the disc, it was quicker than sticky labels, and the output looked much better. But my relationship with my Epson soon turned into immense, seething hatred. The tray that's required for printing is cumbersome to use and doesn't store easily, it often says it's not aligned when it is aligned, or sometimes the Epson will take the disc in, spit it back out, and refuse to continue doing anything until you turn it off, turn it back on, and wait a few minutes for it to recharge its ink. I spent more time dealing with tray alignment/feeding issues and hearing the Epson constantly get ready to print (yet actually do so) rather than seeing it actually do what I asked it to do: print a disc!

When I saw the demo online for the Discpainter though, it seemed all my answers had been answered. In short, it does everything extremely well that the Epson did poorly and does an acceptable job at what the Espon did best.

What It Gets Right over an Epson R Series:
* Small footprint, with no accessories or trays to keep track of
* Very quite operation
* Fast print speeds (Epson prints faster once it gets going, but when you add it up, it's slower)
* Ink dries quickly (no more 24 hour long drying times!)
* Doesn't randomly flip out and refuse to work because you looked at it the wrong way

What It Doesn't Get Right over an Epson R Series:
* Image quality. The Discpainter is 1200dpi, which is plenty of resolution, however it's only a 4 color system whereas an Epson R series, even at the $90 price mark, is a 6 color system. With those 2 less colors, the Discpainter has to dither the image more often than the Epson will ever have to. When the Discpainter doesn't have to dither, it looks great, just as good as the Epson, but when it does, the image quality looks like a 4 color inkjet from over 5 years ago.

I just finished printing 50 discs back to back on this thing without it ever having to stop, whereas on the Epson I had, something would go wrong every 3 discs requiring a restarting of the print job, or worse, restarting the printer.

Overall, I'm very positive on the Discpainter. As someone that prints a large number of disc labels a year, but not enough to warrant professional production, this is a great product because of the speed, size, quietness, and ease of use. However, it's inexcusable that something this expensive isn't using 6 colors which just about ever printer has had now for several years.

I am a professional photographer that produces a number of discs each week. I purchased the Discpainter when drivers became available for OS 10.5 on the Mac & I have a Dymo Labelwriter 330 Turbo that has proven very useful. I was hoping to replace my Epson R800 and R1800 which printed nicely when working but were not very reliable. I've tried Lightscribe discs, and while very pleased with the albeit monochrome results, was very unhappy with the time required for those results (upwards of 25 minutes per disc).
The software included with the Discpainter is satisfactory, but in my opinion is inferior to SmileOnMyMac's Disclabel. Setup is easy, the printer's physical footprint is very small, and print times are outstanding even at highest quality. That last part is where this printer has failed me badly. I tried both matte and glossy white Verbatim printable discs at a number of different settings and at no time did the print quality come close to what the Epsons are capable of. Mine already has clogged jets as it is printing blank circular lines through photos on discs, even after using the printer utility's cleaning option. I gave this printer 2 stars for it's size, ease of use, and print speed. The quality is probably fine for the average home user, but for the price I would strongly recommend looking at some of the far cheaper inkjet printers that have this capability. To anyone wanting to use it in a professional capacity, I would say look at a sample first, but I think the print quality alone will make them steer clear of the Discpainter. Sorry Dymo, I love my Labelwriter, but not the Discpainter.

I just used the Discpainter to print a few hundred CDs for a wedding. I had left the world of CD art in 2003 because I thought "stickies" (CD labels) were a bad compromise (too much effort, error and poor quality). But I think now I'm back thanks to this little doohickey. My two cents:

Usage: Painted 300 CDs for my own wedding last month over a period of 2 weeks. I'm not a "creative professional" - just a professional who likes to pretend to be creative from time to time.

Startup: Simple, intuitive and fast. I was painting in minutes. (though it took days for me to decide what art to use)

Software: Easy to use interface - I'd be confident that even my parents (who still have trouble with email attachments) could paint with this device

Print quality/ Durability: Outstanding. So good, in fact, that we changed our design to use the CD envelopes with the clear window so we could show off the art. We received lots of positive feedback. No damage or fading observed yet.

Price: Worth the investment. The value I received far outweighed the total cost (device, consumables, errors and time). It's not cheap, not expensive. Device price was fine for me as I used it fairly heavily and Discpainter's consumables are about on par with other inks and toners. Can't say it was free, but all in all a good buy, at least for me.

I believe in dedication and this printer reflects it. I have a USB hub on my network with an Epson Stylus Photo R1800 and a Dymo LabelWriter 400 Turbo -- and the DiscPainter is a worthy addition. I can print CD/DVDs from the Epson, but I believe (and need) workflow in my professional work and don't want to keep changing trays/settings. The DiscPainter is a solid printer that provides excellent results out of the box.

I've struggled extensively over the years with CD/DVD labels that are difficult to apply precisely or that end up bubbling immediately or after a few months. Aesthetics are critical in the marketing collateral I distribute for my company and clients.

But equally (if not more) important, are the friends and family that I am starting to share customized photo CD/DVDs. I opened the Dymo DiscPrinter and began printing within 5 minutes on glossy, waterproof CDs that come with the unit. The result: beautiful, thoughtful gifts for the holidays with memories that will last (well, as long as the media does). At the very least, decades from now when the data is unrecoverable, they would also make beautiful coasters. ;)

But until then, this is the easiest, dedicated printer for my CD/DVD needs. As a CD/DVD printer, it's obviously much smaller than standard inkjets with a CD/DVD tray -- so I can actually bring it to my parents for the holidays to continue printing out new CDs/DVDs on the road. Of course it could be a little smaller to be truly portable, but I can't complain as its size and quality strike the right balance. It also prints really fast and entertains at the same time. There certainly are some limitations as other users have noted, e.g. image quality/dithering, but there's a priority for me in the quality and knowing that it's a painless process with excellent results.

For someone who prefers a dedicated, small footprint, semi-portable CD/DVD labelling printer with great results, fast, won't jam, and is virtually foolproof -- this is an unquestionable buy.

This is a really neat little printer. Before I got this I was spending way too much time trying to LightScribe my DVDs and never really being satisfied with the look of it. Boring with no color and taking anywhere up to 15+ minutes to create.

The DYMO DiscPainter comes with software and attaches to your PC by USB. The setup was very quick and easy and I was up and running in about 10 minutes. The software comes with some very cool designs that you can use, but more importantly you can import your own designs that you create yourself. Just simply import them and design them the way you want.

At first it appeared that you could not layer your imported images and graphics, specifically images with transparent backgrounds. However, after playing around with it a bit more I learned that it accepts .TIF images for transparent backgrounds but not .GIF images. So be aware of that if you are wanting to layer logos or graphics you create onto the disc image.

The printer prints directly to printable discs and I am VERY satisfied with the quality, especially after looking at the boring lightscribe versions I used to be dealing with. It takes about a minute and a half to 2 minutes to print. Some people have a problem with that but I don't... it's quick.

The software is easy to use and fun to play with and I am very satisfied with this product. The only reason I have given it 4 stars is because it seems a little pricey for what it does. I'm sure that it will come down eventually but paying $250+ for this printer that will require you to eventually purchase cartridges that are $40+ is a little extreme. Also, you have to buy printable discs which run the cost up further. Unless you are making CDs and DVDs for professional use, if you are looking at this product just as a home consumer you may want to rethink.

Been producing music steadily since 2005 and have been using the old infamous Epson R200 (killed 2 of em) and then the Epson R320 (burned thru 2 of em) which is even more of a major PITA! I decided to go for the problem free production mode with Dymo instead of the hell i used to experience with Epsons machines.
This DiscPainter is one of the best things i have ever bought. I just hooked it up today and its working away for me at a wonderful speed, quality and with no trouble. This machine is a real dream compared to Epson.
I can hardly believe what a big difference in functionality!! WOW. I was up and runnin on my Intel Mac with this Dymo printer and pumpin out CDs in about 10 minutes. No problems at all. It works like a charm. Each print is absolutely perfect and i have had zero challenges and have already done over 30 CDs.....they look awesome! :)) The 3-color cartridges seem to do a very fine job yet perhaps not quite as good on small black print as the epson. That is my only issue with the Discpainter, but i dont care because the rest is a dream come true for me after struggling for 3 years with Epson machines......this one is the best i have come across after doing tons of research and i dont think you will find better. If you are like me, you will love this thing.
If you are tired of messin around with trays and constant blinking lights and extremem slow operation
(epson trademark irritants) get one of these puppies and you will be smiling. Im very pleased and would highly recommend this production workhorse.

I just bought this over the weekend and the product produces a high quality product. Mind you this is not intended to compete with commercialized products but in my opinion outside of costs, far superior to the Espon series. No jams, feeding errors, etc with this machine. Physical dimensions are much smaller than the Epson R series. I've read other reviews about cost and how expensive this product is. I am throwing the cost discussion out the door. If you want good, reliable artwork for your DVD movie or CD, this is the machine. Software is easy to install and use. Only takes a few minutes to get up and running. Also, others have said that speed is an issue on this machine. As mentioned before, if your life can spare just a few more minutes while you go and tend to other things in the house, time will not be of importance. I come once every 3-4 minutes at the "best" 1200 dpi setting to reload another CD and guess what folks, my life is not in turmoil because oh it takes sooo much time. Please, half of us waste time just mosing around on the cellphone having pointless conversations or wasting time watching TV. This product with its Radial technology is an improvement over the Espon R series.

I am very pleased with my new Discpainter. It is clearly the disc labeling device that manufacturers had been promising for years but never could quite deliver. It produces all the speed and quality one would expect, without all the complexity and disappointment of previous labeling systems.
Before the DiscPainter I used the Hewlett Packard LightScribe disc labeling system. It was so slow that I think I am still waiting for some of my labeling jobs to finish. On a good day it took twenty minutes or more to make one DVD label! Twenty minutes! My DiscPainter takes only a minute to label a disc at 600 dpi and only 3 minutes to label a disc at 1200 dpi. In addition, the LightScribe labeled in only two colors with one of those colors being the silver face of the disc. It was great if I wanted a really subtle, non descript label. Unfortunately, most of the time I need more true to life, realistic, full color images for my disc labels.
The feature I like most with my DiscPainter is the ease in which I can label my disc media with word descriptions of its contents. For most text jobs all I have to do is hit the TEXT tab, click ADD, and type the desired text. How much simpler could adding text be? For more complex text labeling jobs, I use Photoshop and can literally utilize every font style available. With my LightScribe, the two color text to background contrast was very low. This made reading text on disc labels challenging under the best lighting conditions. If I were trying to read those disc labels in a vehicle, or office at night the task became downright maddening.
I highly recommend the DiscPainter to anyone who wants to create great disc covers without having to accept the limitations of other disc labeling systems.

I have been using my new DiscPainter for close to a month now. It has been exciting creating beautiful CD/DVD covers without having to first digest a complex instruction manual. I found it exceptionally easy to navigate the software as there are no confusing configurations to work out as was the case with my old disc labeling software. Everything was spelled out in simple laymen's terms and was intuitively understandable.

I also liked the fact that everything functioned flawlessly on the DiscPainter. This is a well engineered and well constructed disc label printer. There are no gimmicky afterthought add-ons like feed trays or sticker seating devices. Just put a blank silver or white printable disc in the cradle and the DiscPainter does the rest (well almost, I still like to make the creative decisions). Within a minute, my disc is covered with a clear, color label that really adds to the disc's wow factor.
My work space is rather limited so I appreciate the DiscPainter's small size. It takes up slightly more space than two discs placed flat side by side forming the number "8". The higher back end is slightly more than the height of a disc placed on its edge. Smaller is better on a workspace where real estate is at a premium.

I truly enjoy using my DiscPainter. Dymo has taken a task that has always been fraught with frustration and disappointing results and turned it into an easy task replete with satisfaction. I give it an unreserved five stars.

June 28 2010

I just called Dymo to ask a question about the Dymo Discpainter and was told by the support technician that Dymo has discontinued the product two weeks ago. When I clicked on their links from inside their website, I just got 404's and messages that there is no such product. Links from third parties still will take you to the Discpainter pages at Dymo, but I suspect they will be removing that shortly.

Marion