dishpan

hello all,
this weekend my first batch of cases arrived and so i had my first attempt at printing out custom dvd covers i'd downloaded.
i took a cd with some covers (silver star trek tmp, superman, buffy season sets) over to kinkos and had the guy print them out on the 11x17 glossy paper (like $2.80 a sheet) and when i got home i was not too happy with the results.
the small text looks kinda blurry, even though the jpg on the computer screen looks so beautiful and crisp. did i choose the wrong paper or something?
the silver color of the star trek tmp did not match the other silver star treks. it was more of a purplish gray and looked really off. again on screen it looks great. is this a color calibration issue with the kinkos printer or something?
where do you guys get your covers printed out, can you offer me some suggestions?
thanks in advance
dan

joliom

Sounds like it's Kinko's fault. There are going to be slight differences between how your monitor and printer render colors, but not to the degree you're mentioning. My advice is to invest in a photo printer and do all your printing at home. I have an Epson Stylus Photo R800 and when printing on genuine Epson glossy photo paper, the results are simply stunning (blows away all the prints I ever got from expensive color laser printers that cost 10 times more).

joliom

I should also mention that a major advantage of printing at home is that you can do test prints to check that everything is looking right and make additional adjustments easier than if you're paying $2.80 per print and holding up the line. And the type of paper you use can make a major difference. I tried some of the Meritline glossy sheets one time and the quality was horrendous on my printer - likewise when I've tried using different brands of photo paper - not every paper will work right with every printer. Best bet is to use the same brand of paper as your printer, or else experiment a little first to determine what works best. I'm just thinking that for $2.80 per sheet, unless you have only a handful of covers you plan on printing, then a photo printer (which can be had for less than $100) is a much better investment.

RockStrongo

I use HP glossy brochure and flyer paper. Seems to work well. Only costs about $10-12 for 50 sheets at a retail office store (for 8.5x11). I cant remember the cost of 11x17, but it isn't a whole lot more.