Blu-ray CD DVD Printers and CD Printing Equipment

At CD Dimensions you'll find today's leading brands of Blu-ray, DVD CD printers. Select from thermal CD Printers, thermal re-transfer CD printers and inkjet based CD printers, available with both color and monochrome printing options. CD printers are compatible with DVD-R,DVD+R, Blu-ray disc and any other specially coated 120mm optical discs.
For high volume applications, we offer automated multi format CD,DVD,Blu-ray printer station solutions to print multiple CD-R,DVD, and Blu-ray in an automated, unattended production environment. Chose from Controller-based (can be accessed via a browser on a network), PC and Mac connect and PC embedded automated CD printer models.

There are three common "on-demand" professional printing technologies that exist today. They are Inkjet, Thermal and Thermal Retransfer. Here is an overview of the technologies.

Inkjet CD Printers Is based on the same inkjet printing technology that made low cost monochrome and color printing possible for the home PC market. These printers use standard ink cartridges to print on the surface of inkjet printable media. Cartridges are available for single color, as well as full 4 color printing. Because inkjet printing is a wet process, the CD printers require special ink absorbent disc to be used. The inkjet wet process has the advantage of being able to mix colors, and can produce excellent multi color printing results at fairly high resolutions. These printers tend to be lower priced than the other technologies, and are available in a broad range of resolutions. Their primary disadvantage is that the print surface is not impervious to moisture.

Thermal Transfer CD printers, as the name implies, use heat to transfer the print materials to the disc surface. This is accomplished by placing a thin film ribbon between the disc and the print head. Single, dual and multi colored ribbons are available to provide a variety of print output options. Thermal CD printers tend to be faster than the other two CD printing technologies, and they deliver a very durable print. The cost per print of single and two color is very low, while full color per print costs are about on par with inkjet technology. Their primary disadvantage is that the initial purchase of a thermal CD printer is more expensive than an inkjet printer, but can provide a greater return on investment when printing disks. Also, the maximum print resolutions tops out at about 300 x 600 dpi.

Thermal Retransfer CD Printers delivers photo realistic printing quality. Like normal thermal printing, it uses heat transfer and ribbon technology, but with one added step. It works by printing the color image to an interim ribbon, which is then used to print to the actual disk. Using the second ribbon allows colors to be better ‘mixed’ and applied to the disc surface. This technology delivers the highest quality, and most durable print available.

You are probably asking 'which printing method is best'? Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. All CD printer technologies can deliver single and multi color printing capabilities. Thermal printing gives you the most durable finish, but does not deliver photographic results. That's because they do not mix colors well, and use dithering to create color tones. They shine however, when printing text, logos, and simple graphics.Inkjet printing gives you full color printing at resolutions as high as 4800 dpi, and do so at a reasonable cost in terms of initial investment, and ongoing per print costs. Thermal retransfer delivers the highest quality, most durable print of all the printing technologies. Quality levels so high that it's often difficult to discern a silk screened disc from one that's been printed using a thermal retransfer printer. As you would expect however, the printer and the per-print costs are the highest of all the printer technologies.

And in addition to our exceptional pricing and quick delivery, you'll also get professional advice from our friendly and knowledgeable sales team. Give us a call toll free @ 888-395-6396 or email us for a quote, and let us help you select the right CD printer for your budget and production requirements.

To learn more about CD Printers, request our free online Buying Guide.