Customer Reviews

Thermal Disc Printer

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Okay, first, I did not purchase this with any illusions that it would print perfectly on all blank CD/DVD media.
I also did not expect it to print full disc graphics, multiple colors, or auto-feed a stack of blanks.
You need to know that certain blanks will not print at all or poorly.
The blanks to avoid using with this printer are those with nearly perfectly smooth glossy surfaces, or those with lots of printing on their surface.
An example of a glossy blank to avoid is the excellent quality (Taiyo-Yuden manufactured) Maxell CD-R PRO with the shiny gold surface with multiple black lines. These blanks will not print at all.
The blanks that work best are those with a slightly textured unpainted surface or those that have no printing or texture at all.
The best of all would by the Taiyo-Yuden blanks that have completely plain tops, which will print all four areas perfectly edge to edge.
Also, please keep in mind here that this is intended to put information on blanks, NOT make them look pretty, and it does that extremely well, without requiring crappy printable blanks that are expensive, and can smear, fade, or peel.
Also, this works considerably better than the Casio disk printers that neither automatically rotate, nor print to four areas.
The best use for this is for burned music CDs or DVDs that you want track-by-track information for.
In fact, my only real complaint with this is that it will not export CD-Text information directly into the label composer program.
You must enter all information manually, but it can fit all track information quite nicely, if you just take a moment to use the right font instead of griping about microscopic fonts that should not be used at all.
Once you have the right blanks (the T-Ys I recommended are easily the best), you will be amazed at how clear, attractive, and durable the printing is.
Oh, and Sharpies look like garbage; you cannot fit much on the surface, and they can damage the blank itself.
Until they come out with full color capable Lightscribe(TM) technology with blanks that cost no more than regular media, this is the best you can do for labeling.

***UPDATE***
I have used this printer somewhat heavily for the last two years, and it still works quite nicely.
Anyone wanting to get the most out of its printing ability, plus use the best media available, would be best served with this precise CD-R media: Taiyo Yuden 52X Silver Spindle 100-Pack, 100-Pack
Yes, Taiyo-Yuden (recently purchased by JVC, you should know) also makes DVD media: Taiyo Yuden 8x 4.7GB DVD-R Silver Thermal in Cake Box (100 pack)
Another reviewer on here pointed out that vibrations can sometimes cause printing problems, and those problems can be alleviated by placing this printer on a vibration absorbing surface, which in this case the reviewer said he used a simple phone book.
btw...the printing looks quite professional, even if it cannot do graphics as such, or color.
This is for informational purposes, not to make the disks have fancy designs, and it does that quite well.

this is my first disc printer and it was easy to set up and print. on clear disc, i would recommend trying different color ink ribbons, because black is hard to see on the small print.

I've owned two of these. The first one I got when they first came out and was labeled with the manufacturer's name. I had buggy problems with it but if I messed with it enough (unplugging it and reinstalling the driver etc), I could usually get it to work. After a year or so, it just wouldn't work anymore at all. I tried lots of remedies but nothing helped. I ended up purchasing another one because I really like the features and what it is supposed to do. It really is great when it works. The second one had the TEAC name and I thought maybe the bugs had been worked out. I've always liked TEAC equipment but this one was worse. I had the same problems and it quit working even sooner than the first one. I'm looking for something to replace it if anyone has any recommendations.

The teac p 11 i have has worked fine for thousands of cds and dvds. I don't make special demands on it. I use usually two image areas at a time. I only use blank silver topped media. Keep it simple, folks.

Do not buy this printer. It only printed 20 cds before the cartridge ran out. Only about half of those fully printed. If your cd isn't perfectly, I mean perfectly flat there will be low spots the printer head won't cover. The software is a joke. You cannot do anything creative. I am sending it back and all the cd's I bought.

Spend your money on an ink jet printer that will print discs. This printer skips and leaves gaps. Fine font is not legible. It will print on only 4 sectors on the disc, not the entire disc.

The lid of this pathetic toy device broke off the first time I opened it. But it doesn't matter, it turned out not to be compaible with the Vista operating system.

I learned that not from the support line, which doesn't answer, or from any information possible to obtain before purchase on line.

I learned it from reading the box, which does not mention Vista by name; but says it is compatible with XP.

My congratulations to Amazon (again) for a superb return policy. My message to the Teac marketing department: does your mother know where you work?

As long as you buy disks for a thermal printer this printer works well. I am happy with it.

This product has forever tainted my feelings about the Teac/Tascam brand. If you research this on the net, you will discover there is an electronic issue which causes the unit to loose communication with the PC. They wanted about $90 for a generic repair charge post warranty. When it does work, the disk surface is super critical on how well it prints. My best luck has been to get about 33% of the disks to print correctly. The other 66% had missing segments of black ink/resin--which looks bad. This is a great idea, but the touchiness and the electronic issue makes this a looser. I am going back to Sharpie markers.

The Teac P11 thermal one ink disc printer is a good, inexpensive printer. The CD label program is easy to use - print quality is good. The release of the CD after CD is printed is sometimes difficult to release.