I have recently bought extra keep cases to replace my DVDs in snap cases. I am a first timer at this so I'm completely clueless as to how to go about it. I was hoping youse guys could help a brother out.

Please share any information you can.

I have a good scanner and a good printer. Am I going to have to destroy my snap cases to get them on the scanner?

Also, is there a special kind of paper I should buy to print on?

Note: This is for the sole pupose of transferring snap cases to keep cases. In the event this gets closed, could someone who knows what I'm talking about email me at:

(removed e-mail - Bust)


Thanks.

Bust,

I've done the exact same thing recently. I started with a template 10.75" x 7.25" @ 300dpi (which is what I scanned in the snapper cover at). You have a strip 5/8" wide in the center for the spine. What I did was remove the snapper from it's case (pop up the tracks along the top and bottom of the back of the case), flatten it out, and scan it in at 300dpi. I then copied the front/spine/back sections to separate temp workspaces, cleaned up any defects/scratches, filled in the area from the teeth on the back, then resized/cropped each area to fit into its spot on the template. It's quite easy once you get the hang of it. I did all my editing in photoshop btw, but paint shop pro works just as well. I printed mine out at kinkos on their color laser, but I just used regular 8.5" x 14" paper. if you're on a decent connection and want to download any of the covers I've done so far, drop me an email at [email protected]. low-res previews are available here and here.



[Edited by mdX on 05-02-01 at 11:34 AM]

Would you by any chance have one for The Wizard of Oz? If so, I really need a copy. I'd make my own, but I don't have the orginal case.

Green Jello,

I don't have Wizard of Oz. Here's what I have covers and inserts for so far:

Amadeus
American History X
Analyze This
Austin Powers
Austin Powers 2
Devil's Advocate
Heat
JFK SE (new 2-disc version)
L.A. Confidential
the Matrix
Pearl Jam: Touring Band 2000
Se7en (Plat. Edition)
Taxi Driver
the Wedding Singer

all of these can be downloaded from my ftp at 129.2.242.8 port 3131 user/pass: dvd. The covers are 10-15mb and the inserts 5-10mb. All images are 300dpi TIFF format (uncompressed)

Turn the case over so you're looking at the back. At the top and bottom are thin plastic flaps. Just lift up on them and the paper cover will come right off.

I assumed from your question, you didn't know this. If I assumed incorrectly, sorry. -smile-

-David

You are correct, I have never done this before.

ok, another dumb question,

when you take them to Kinkos, what do you save them on? a CD? How much does it cost to print them there?

Bust,

I burn them to a cd before I go to Kinkos. It costs $1.45 per page on the color laser printer I was using, plus whatever time you use on the computer (@ $.40/min).

I noticed you have Ace Ventura - any chance you could scan that and send to me? my cover is badly damaged. drop me an email plz

I'll assume you were directing this part to someone else, because I do not own Ace Ventura.


Thank you very much for your information.

mdX, you know you could make some money selling CDs containing these images to be printed - I for one would be interested. How long does it take you to scan and re-format an image?

The lack of 8.5 x 14 inch coated inkjet paper has been stopping me from printing them on the inkjet at home. I'm always missing that last inch since I can't bleed to the edge of 8.5 x 11 inch sheets.

Anyone know of a cheap source of 8.5 x 14 coated inkjet paper in small quantities?

I JUST figured this out on my own. I'm off to Office Depot to look for some coated 8.5 x 14 inch inkjet paper.

Another thing,

Be totally honest, is there any way to get the prints to look as good of quality as the original covers for my other keep case DVDs? Again, don't laugh at me for asking this, I really want to know if it's possible.

Whoever posted that FTP, thanks a lot! Very fast download speeds and covers for 3 films I wanted. :cool:

If anyone can hook me up with The Whole 9 Yards and Final Destination, please post the links to 'em here!

Also if anyone finds the 8.5x14 paper, post where you got it. Thanks.

[Edited by Nosebleed on 05-02-01 at 04:14 PM]

This is what I do to get my printer to print to the edge: I simply use adhesive tape to attach another piece of paper to make it 14" length. Works like a charm. So far I printed at least 6 covers with this method. I used those cases from AOL.

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 700 and use legal sized ink jet photo paper from Epson, i.e. it's special paper in that it has a coated side to print on, but it's not the heavy photo glossy. I'm fairly certain they have legal sized photo glossy but that's too pricey. I scan all my covers to 150 dpi and print at highest quality (1440x720 dpi) and the covers are indistinguishable from originals from casual observation. The biggest problem is solid fields of yellow or red aren't quite as saturated as the real thing. Of course if you look closely you can see that they're printed.

No, the biggest problem is getting the entire snapper cover to fit in the area of the smaller keep case cover. On some I ended up chopping text on the back of the cover to make it fit. On others they either fit or I took the trouble to make it fit.

As for how to make a template, scan a keep case cover, crop it to size then delete the contents. Voila, instant template. It's also handy if you're using photoshop to create a layer with mattes for the spine.

assuming all that I need to do is scan and resize, about 15 minutes. For most I do a bit of touch up work which adds another 10 minutes or so. I'm pretty sure Warner/New Line et al would not be happy with me selling cds, but my ftp is available 24/7

Pearl Jam
 

Hey I went to your FTP and noticed Touring Band 2000 wasn't up. I really need this. My snapper packaging is all scratched up and I want a replacment bad. Thanks for the service to all us snapper owners

Re: Pearl Jam
 

sorry, I had created them but forgot to zip and put them on the ftp. they are up there now

Just for the record, I'd pay good money for something like that. ;)

Well, I just got back, and I found one pack at Office Depot. It is Kodak 8.5 x 14 Photo Paper. I paid $20 for 25 sheets so it's not a bargain by any means, but I wanted to get it done, and I don't see myself using all 25 sheets anytime soon (I don't have a huge collection).

I changed a couple of preferences before I printed this time and the quality I got on this paper is unbelieveable.

I literally can't tell that it's a print out. The one I did was Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same. I have no way to distribute this to anyone else (it was a 21 meg scan) so I just deleted it after I printed.

I'm off to do Demon Knight and Detroit Rock City.

Thank you all for all your help.

Ok, I have a brand new question...


What is the best type of file to print from? The two I've used so far are .tiff and .bmp
They look very good, but are there better ones?

Bust,

just about any file format that is uncompressed or uses lossless compression (such as TIFF and BMP, but not JPG or GIF) will produce the desired results

Get free software to print your DVD covers: go to Neato.com and download its free MediaFace II software. You can create CD labels, CD covers, audio, VHS, zip and many other formats. You'll be asked to enter some personal information and they will e-mail you a product key. Enter it and you're set to go. It's very easy to use. The template is pre-made and all you have to do is download pictures off the Internet, format it into the template and print.<p>DVD Covers: go to CDCovers.cc for the best quality covers. You might have to format it in MSPaint to use in the Neato template, but it's well worth it. You'll see what I mean when you format the cover.<p>DVD cases: the best place to get the cases are at INetDVD.com. They have all sorts of cases, including the hard-to-find silver and gold edition cases, which they sell for approximately $0.69 each.<p>Print Paper: go to your local Fry's or Circuit City and pick up a pack of Avery or Epson A4 (8.3" x 11.7") High Gloss Paper. You'll see a lot of different kinds, but pick the one that sells for about $10-15 and includes about 50-100 sheets. Do not buy the ones that are super high gloss (about $20-25 for 20 sheets), it's not worth the extra dough. The quality isn't that much different. You'll see what I mean if you waste your money trying to prove me wrong.<p>If you don't feel like doing all this work, you can just buy a replacement case (specifically made to transfer snap cases) from DVDownunder.com.au for about $10.00 (5 cases). You'll just have to cut out the Warner Bros. snap front and back covers and slide them in their replacement cases. Beats wasting more money on new covers, ink cartridges, and high gloss paper.

Just a little extra tidbit:
You can usually see better results by scanning at a higher resolution than you need and resample/resize to a lower resolution. As well, don't forget to de-screen!

Dan,

while scanning at a higher resolution and downsampling may be a good rule of thumb, it doesn't really apply here because at anything above 300dpi you're going to have monstrous file sizes....so if you're cutting and pasting and what not, it's going to be a good deal slower. and at 300dpi, the scans I've done so far are pretty much indistinguishable from the original. as far as descreening goes, I've had mixed results. while it does a good job of removing some artifacts, it also does loose some detail in the process. I think with my scans I ended up not using it, but YMMV