Willy

I am looking for a new printer for xmas that will print out good dvd covers. Anyone know of some good ones that are around 300ish? Thanks.

joliom

Someone just gave me an Epson Stylus Photo 890 and it serves up some beautiful prints (and doesn't break the bank either). The only down side is it eats up a lot of ink and if you buy the genuine Epson ink cartridges, it can get a bit expensive. I've also heard good things about the new Canon models in the mid-level price range. Just make sure whatever printer you go with supports borderless printing. If you plan on printing a lot of multi-disc cases you might also want to consider a printer that offers the option of adding on an attachment for paper rolls since it is almost impossible to find photo paper or most other types of high-quality papers in legal size.

Sosai X

I just bought an HP 7760, it prints marvelous covers, plus it has a built-in drive to access media from digital cameras, and an LCD screen to print directly from your media. It was 199 bucks.

Feathers McGraw

I love my new Canon i850. 4 separate ink tanks, ink costs way below Epson and HP, borderless printing, lightning fast, drop dead quality on glossy photos, even normal paper looks fantastic.

Cost me $150 Canadian, *way* below your price. You could move up a model or two if you wanted.

Londo

I got an Epson R300, also takes media cards for PC-Less printing...

oh.. and it prints on DVD-R's also

danwiz

Canon 950i, although as a previous post says - the 850i is also great. I took my digital camera to the Canon Help store here in Tokyo and had them print the same 2 photos on both the 850i and the 950i and I could notice a big enough difference so that I went to the store (they don't actually sell anything at the Help Store) and bought the 950i. Supports borderless printing so no problems with cover sizes, and besides that, the standard paper size here is A4, which is 8.27" x 11.69", so I don't have to use the borderless feature anyway.

The 950i has 6 ink cartridges, but as I print a lot of professional quality photos, I don't mind having to shell out the extra money for ink.

Ronin008

Any of those models happen to be usb based? I'm in the market for one and the canon models are really attractive pricewise, may have to pick it up this christmas.

i loath parralell port, so i hope its usb.

Feathers McGraw

The Canon i850 has both parallel and USB 2.0 connectors. I'm using the parallel port, no problems at all. Not sure why you despise it.

Ronin008

It's ancient technology. Plus unlike USB it is not hotswappable.

Feathers McGraw can you show me some shots of what you've printed out on your printer? I'd love to see how it shines with the glossy finish as I'd pick one up for DVD cover work.

Thanks

Feathers McGraw

Hmm, not really an easy way to do that. I could scan it a photo, but it wouldn't really show it off, the gloss would all be gone. I've printed off numerous 4x6" pictures on the included photo paper, and they simply look like normal photos to me. The only thing missing is "Printed on Kodak paper" on the back.

Best thing would be to find a Future Shop/Best Buy kind of place to check out the samples in person.

Ronin008

Actually, that would be a great idea.

Would you or anyone else have a particular brand of photo paper to recommend or are they all pretty homogeneous?

Feathers McGraw

From what I've read, pretty much everybody says the Canon paper is phenomenal, with some saying Epson works well too. Lots of recommendations for Red River as well.

Here's a good multipage review on it, as well as some others:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/printers.html