Blu-ray Dimensions

Microboards Technology offers several choices for inkjet Blu-ray disc printing for recordable Blu-ray discs. The Blu-ray disc printers include Microboards GX Manual Disc Printer,  Microboards GX Auto Printer,  Microboards PF 3 Auto Printer and the Microboards PF Pro Auto Printer.

Microboards GX Disc Printer PX1-1000

The Microboards GX manual disc printer provides a small footprint Blu-ray disc printer to the office or wherever you need single Blu-ray disc printing in a compact package.  Cost per print is around 23 cents per disc plus the cost of the printable discs with professional like full color printing. The 4800dpi GX manual Blu-ray disc printer like all the Microboards Technology printers use HP print technology with vibrant HP Vivera inks. Unlike the other disc printer units the GX manual printer and autoprinter use single ink cartridges for simpler operation and handling.   The GX manual Blu-ray disc printer supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac 10.4.X.  It is connected via a USB 2.0 port and is designed around printing 25 discs per week. SureThing disc labeling software is included.

Microboards Technology uses patented disc singulation technology to feed the automated printers in their Blu-ray disc printer  group. This includes the Microboards GX Auto Printer,  Microboards PF 3 Auto Printer and the Microboards PF Pro Auto Printer. All designed around HP inkjet CD printer technology the Microboards auto printer family offers high resolution disc disc printing at 4800 dpi.

Microboards GX Auto Printer

Microboards GX Autoprinter Disc Printer

Similar to the GX manual Blu-ray disc printer the GX Auto Printer  adds 50 disc automation to the process.  Printing costs are around .23 per print with the GX plus the cost of the printable discs.  The big advantage is when you have to print more then one copy of a title. Marketing, post-production distribution for software and High Def Video all are ideal candidates for a unit that is rated  to around 100 discs a week.  Again like the manual version it uses a single print cartridge for convenience.  This is where usage comes into the rating.  If you are going to print more discs then 100 then a Print Factory 3 or Print factory Pro is a better direction to go in because of how the ink cartridges are distributed.  It costs less the more you use a multi cartridge printer and less with a single cartridge system if it’s sitting for most of the time un-used.  The greatest savings for production is the Microboards PF Pro Auto Printer

Microboards PF Pro Auto Printer

Microboards Print Factory Pro Automated DVD CD Printer

The workhorse of the Microboards Blu-ray disc printer line utilizing Microboards’ patented disc singulation technology, the PF-Pro is designed to print over 250 discs a week.  Its 100-disc input spindle capacity allows for unattended operation.  By utilizing the latest in HP inkjet technology with separate C, M, Y, and Black ink cartridges means zero waste - and the lowest possible cost-per-disc, as low as 11 cents for a full coverage print. One set of ink cartridges can produce 850 to 1,500 discs. Disc designs utilizing light text-only coverage could have a cost-per-disc as low as 2 cents, and throughput at upwards of 250 discs per hour.  The Microboards Print Factory Pro Auto Printer supports Windows 2000, Windows XP,  Windows Vista or Mac.  SureThing disc labeling software is included.

Microboards PF 3 Auto Printer

Microboards Print Factory 3 Inkjet CD Printer Autoloader

The Print Factory has been in the Microboards Technology line up for many years and is a robust auto loading Blu-ray disc printer as well as printing on DVD and CD-R printable discs.   With a 100 disc capacity and dual ink color thermal inkjet printing that runs around .25 a print using the 2 Cartridges: CMY (V102C) and K (V101B). The Print Factory 3 supports Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.  It does not support the Mac OS.  It is designed around 250 discs a week.

All Microboards blu-ray disc printers use USB 2.0 interface to communicate with the printers.  Quick start guides and detailed instructions can be found along with a one year warranty Plus extended warranties and rapid exchange support.

Printable Blu-ray disc Printers

It’s an exciting time in the high definition world with blu-ray disc format racing ahead despite the slow economic times.  Recordable Blu-ray discs or “BD-R” for the Write Once Read Many media (WORM) and the rewritable formats “BD-RE” are offering a whole new world for recording high definition movies (like a leap from super 8 film to Video).  With the ever increasing demand for Blu-ray movies recordable Blu-ray offers a less expensive way of going to market.  There are many licensing fees in pressed disc manufacturing specific to Blu-ray that can be avoided using recordable Blu-ray media.

How then do you create a disc label for your recordable bd-r project?

There are several technologies available to you that will allow for individual on demand disc printing. Careful consideration should be made on the pros and cons of each technology.

Inkjet Printable BD-R Printers:

R-Quest 4800dpi Inkjet Disc Printer

Ink-jet printing offers convenience and high resolution.  Inkjet printing works by having ink cartridges/ spray nozzles that shoot out a measured amount of color in very fine dots.  Most inkjet printers work by heating the ink which creates pressure that forces out the ink. Ink-jet blu-ray printing offers high resolution, 4800 dpi (dots per inch), excellent color blending and easy maintenance.  Depending on the model of automated Blu-ray printers most use 2 ink color with the exception of the R-Quest 4500 which uses a HP 6 color printer engine.  Primera has a single ink system, the BravoSE Blu-ray.  The BravoSE is not a production unit but it is designed for on-demand disc publishing. If you need to run 5 discs a day it’s a great solution.  The cost is greater with most ink-jet technology.  Manufacturers like to “tweek” the cartridges for added features like low level warnings (important so you don’t run out in the middle of a automated job ruining 100 of discs). Inkjet printabe discs are subject to smudges under wet conditions.  Currently only Imation provides a water-resistant surface called “Aquaguard” for BD-R blank discs.

Thermal Printable BD-R Printers:

Rimage Prism Plus Thermal Printer

With extra protective coatings on thermal printable blank bd-r and thermal re-transfer / dye-sublimation it is possible to successfully print a label on the recordable Blu-ray disc.  Thermal printing offers lower cost in printer ribbons and the type of media required.  It has limited resolution so complex images like photographs look poor.  Thermal printable Blu-ray media is excellent for solid graphics or well defined variations in contrast. Thermal printing can only effectively print in monochromatic colors. Black, Red, Blue and with a multi-color ribbon: yellow. Thermal printing uses a print head that heats up a special wax-resin based ribbon in dots that blend together in the heat onto the disc.  This is known as direct disc thermal printing.  A great leap was made when thermal printing spun off with a re-transfer process that allows for blending the colors before printing them onto a disc.

Thermal Re-transfer BD-R Printers:

Rimage Everest 600

Thermal Re-Transfer printing offers some unique improvements to recordable Blu-ray printable discs.   It uses a similar process as thermal printing but with a multi-color ribbon and a transfer ribbon that serves as a color palate to mix the colors. Once the image is printed to the re-transfer ribbon it’s then applied to the disc with additional heat.  The result is a very durable and bright image that looks better then silk screening.

An even finer re-transfer thermal printer is the dye-sublimation printer that vaporizes the ink to create an even better transfer of the image then standard re-transfer that only liquefies  the ink resin.

Both re-transfer technologies are far more expensive compared to direct thermal printing and ink-jet printing. If you are producing discs for a commercial end user then re-transfer is the way to go.

As you can see there are significant differences in each technology that balances economy and performance.  Some thought needs to be put into considering the type of graphics that will be printed on the discs.