How to Print DVD or Video Game Covers

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Amaris Kunakorn

How to Print DVD or Video Game Covers

how to print dvd or video game coversGoing through the game of life, often times things get lost or misplaced. Your car keys? Gone. Your MP3 player? Disappeared. Your homework? Dog ate it. Your DVD or video game cases? Missing as well. While we can’t help you find your car keys, MP3 player, or get your homework back; we can help by providing a guide to print your own DVD or video game covers. Let us begin:

The following instructions are for Adobe Photoshop:

  1. Start up Photoshop and open the cover you downloaded by going to File > Open. Select the cover image.
  2. First we need to check the dimensions and resolution of the image by going to Image > Image Size (Alt + I + I). If the image is sized properly, then just cancel out of this.
  3. When you are ready to print the cover, go to File > Print with Preview.
  4. Click Page Setup to select the correct paper size and orientation. Ensure that you have 8.5×11 (with borderless enabled) or 8.5×14 selected for your paper and you set to the page orientation to landscape.
  5. Click Ok to close out of Page Setup.
  6. Your image should now appear centered in the middle of your paper in the preview window. Ensure the checkbox for “Scale to Fit Media” is unchecked as the image should already be at the proper size.
  7. Click Print to begin printing.

If you need a place to download DVD or video game covers, here are some resources that you will find very useful:

You probably have many reasons why you want to print your own video game covers. Maybe you are not happy for the box art that came from the manufacturer, maybe the game didn’t come with a case (such as Wii Sports bundled with the Nintendo Wii game system), or you want to replace those flimsy Nintendo Gameboy Advanced boxes that have been crushed. Whatever the reason, rest assure, printing out a video game cover is just as easy as printing one for a DVD case.

Follow the steps below to print a Nintendo Gameboy Advance cover to fit the case of a Nintendo DS game:

  1. Scan in the front, back, and side of your GBA box into 3 different images at 300dpi.
  2. Trim off the edges of the each of the scanned images. This is to remove any worn edges of the box.
  3. Resize the front and back of the boxes to 1535×1370.
  4. Clean up the scanned image of the side of the box as this image will be used for the spine of the cover.
  5. Resize the spine to 190×1370 and paste the GBA Spine Logo into the image and align it to the very top. Shift your spine image (game logo) around until it looks good. This is a subjective thing and takes a little tweaking.
  6. Create an image that is 3260×1370 and copy and paste the previous 3 images into it and align them end to end. Save it with a quality of 10 to 12 and you are done.

Here are the dimensions required to print a Nintendo DS cover courtesy of The Cover Project:

  • Front and Back length x height: 1535px(5.117″) x 1370px(4.567″).
  • Spine (middle area) length x height: 190px(0.633″) x 1370px(4.567″).

Now that you are ready to do some heavy printing, you need the right equipment and supplies to get the job done. Of course, to make things easier on you, we’ve gone ahead and compiled such a list:

  • Epson Stylus R260 – Not only a inkjet color printer but also has the ability to print directly on DVD and CD media.
  • White DVD cases – Replace those damaged or lost white DVD cases for the Nintendo Wii with these OEM quality ones!
  • Blank Regular (Black) DVD Cases– Looking for a generic DVD case for movies or Sony Playstation 2 video games? We have a large variety in various quantities.
  • DVD Case Inserts – Did you also lose the case inserts for your DVD movies or video games? With DVD case inserts, you can print your own to make you media collection as good as new!
  • Glossy Printable Paper – Some general purpose glossy printable paper that can be used for a variety of tasks.
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Beginner’s Guide to Buying DVD Media

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Amaris Kunakorn

Beginner's Guide to Buying DVD Media


beginner guide to buying dvd banner

In this section our focus is to teach you the following:

  1. The Difference Between DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM and Other Formats

  2. The Firmware of Your Burner and Benefits of Upgrading Your Firmware

  3. The "MEDIA ID" for the Blank Media You Have Purchased

  4. The Different Surface Types:

  5. What Do DVD Media Speeds (i.e. 4X, 8X, Dual Layer, etc.) Mean?

  6. How Much Can Be Stored in the Media That You Buy?
  

1. Difference Between DVD-R,DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM and Other Formats

What format does your burner require? DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, or DVD-RAM?

DVD-R Media:

A write-once, recordable format. DVD-R drives can write DVD-R discs, which can be written to only once, as opposed to a DVD-RW drive, which can write and rewrite to RW media multiple times. The Authoring Use Drive (635nm Laser) was introduced in 1998 by Pioneer, and the General Use Format (650nm Laser) was authorized in 2000. DVD-R offers a write-once, read-many storage format akin to CD-R and is used to master DVD-Video and DVD-ROM discs.

DVD-RW Media:

DVD ReWritable. A rewritable DVD format that is similar to DVD+RW, but its capability to work as a random access device is not as good as that of the +RW. DVD-RW has a read-write capacity of 4.7 GB.

DVD+R Media:

Short for DVD+Recordable, a recordable DVD format similar to a CD-R. A DVD+R can only record data once and then the data becomes permanent on the disc. The disc can not be recorded onto a second time. DVD+R and DVD+RW formats are supported by Philips, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Ricoh, Yamaha and others.

DVD+RW Media:

The DVD Plus RW Alliance is a group of companies that includes Philips and Sony. They propose standards for recordable and rewritable DVDs.

DVD+R Dual Layer / Double Layer Media:

Double Layer DVD+R media has an amazing 8.5GB of storage capacity. This incredible capacity is enough for up to 4 hours of DVD quality video, 16 hours of VHS quality video or over 120 hours of MP3 audio. Compatible with all current DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives as well as new DVD+R DL drives, the disc is ideal for virtually any business or household application.

Dual-layer DVD-R media offers genuine advantage over the current single layer 4.7GB DVD. The new dual-layer recordable DVD-R disc allows users to read, write or view almost twice the amount of data that is currently possible with the single layer. The advanced technology means that material can be read or recorded on one layer without affecting the other. There's no need to flip sides or change discs.

DVD-RAM Media:

DVD Random Access Memory is a rewritable DVD disc endorsed by Panasonic, Hitachi and Toshiba. It is a cartridge-based, and more recently, bare disc technology for data recording and playback. DVD-RAM bare discs are fragile and do not guarantee data integrity. The first DVD-RAM drives had a capacity of 2.6GB (single-sided) or 5.2GB (double-sided). DVD-RAM Version 2 discs have double-sided 9.4GB discs. DVD-RAM drives typically read DVD-Video, DVD-ROM and CD media. The current installed base of DVD-ROM drives and DVD-Video players cannot read DVD-RAM media.

2. The Firmware of Your Burner and Benefits of Upgrading Your Firmware

Before purchasing DVD Media for your burner, find out the firmware version of your burner. Use the program DVD Identifier to find out the the following information: What is the current firmware on your burner? Use DVD Identifier to figure this out.

What is firmware?
Firmware is the programming instructions contained on a ROM chip within the DVD recorder. This tells the recorder how to respond to commands issued by the computer software. Some firmware is flash-upgradeable, meaning you can upgrade the firmware by running a piece of software on the computer attached to the recorder. Other firmware is coded into a non-rewriteable chip, so the entire chip must be changed in order to upgrade the firmware. Many compatibility issues with different DVD Media can be solved by upgrading your firmware to the latest version.

3. The "MEDIA ID" for the Blank Media You Have Purchased

You can get the Media Code of your Blank DVD Media by using the software DVD Identifier . Knowing the MEDIA ID of the media you purchased puts you at an advantage. When you find a good brand of blank dvd media for your burner, you can stick with the same dvd media as long as the MEDIA IDs match.

4. The Different Surface Types:

Branded:

Manufacturer logo is printed on the surface. Surface color varies depending on the brand and model. Surface is not printable but can be written on using most soft, felt-tipped markers. Ballpoint pens should not be used as it may damage the disc.

Hardcoat:

Protective layer added to make the disc more resistant to fingerprints and scratches and also to repel dirt and dust.

Silver Matte:

Non-reflective, lustrous silver appearance. Surface is thermal printable using monochrome thermal printers such as Rimage Prism Printer.

Gold Lacquer:

Reflective, lustrous gold appearance. Surface is thermal printable using monochrome thermal printers such as Rimage Prism Printer.

LightScribe:

Lustrous appearance, various monochromatic colors available. Graphics can be laser-etched on the surface by LightScribe-enabled burners/duplicators. No printer is required; simply flip the disc over with the recording side facing up to laser-etch your custom design directly on the disc surface.

Shiny Silver/Silver Lacquer:

Reflective, lustrous silver appearance. Surface is thermal printable using monochrome thermal printers such as Rimage Prism Printer. These discs are NOT compatible with thermal re-transfer printers such as Rimage Everest Printer.

Silver Thermal Printable:

Reflective silver appearance, similar to silver lacquer but slightly duller in reflectivity. An additional layer is added to make the surface thermal printable with high-end thermal re-transfer printers such as Rimage Everest Printer.

Silver Inkjet Printable:

Non-reflective, lustrous appearance. Surface is inkjet printable using inkjet disc printers or inkjet printers with disc printing trays. Surface prints have a slightly lustrous look compared to white inkjet surface prints.

WaterShield:

Glossy finish added to be water resistant and more resistant to wear and scratches.

White Inkjet Printable:

White, matte appearance. Surface is inkjet printable using inkjet disc printers or inkjet printers with disc printing trays. Surface prints appear as if printed on plain white printing paper.

White Thermal Printable:

White, matte surface with slight glossy look. Glossy look is due to the additional layer added to make the surface thermal printable with high-end thermal re-transfer printers such as Rimage Everest Printer.

White Top Thermal Printable:

White, matte surface with slight glossy look. Surface is thermal printable using monochrome thermal printers such as Rimage Prism printer. These discs are NOT compatible with thermal re-transfer printers such as Rimage Everest Printer.

Hub Printable:

The printable surface goes all the way through the center hub of the disk. The hub is the circular center of the CD/DVD, about 1 ½ inches in diameter. This allows the full surface of the disc to be printed on for a more attractive custom appearance.

Hub Printable:

There is printable surface that goes all the way to the center hub of the disk. This means you can print all the way to the center hub of the disc and personalize your CD/DVD in a more stylish and unique way.

No Stack Ring:

Always in conjunction with Hub Printable – No Stack Ring means that the ridge surrounding the hub is not present. For discs that are to be thermal printed, there is an advantage to not having a stacking ring. The stacking ring sticks up and interferes with the thermal printer head. When there is no stacking ring there is no restriction on the thermal printing area.

5. What Do DVD Media Speeds Mean?

This is the maximum speed of burning that the DVD Media can support. For example, 8X media can burn at speeds of 1X, 2X, 4X, or 8X. Dual Layer Media (DVD9 Format) is media that can store up to 8.5GB of data, which is double the storage capability of regular DVD5 Format discs.

6. How Much Can Be Stored in the Media That You Buy?

Table: Comparison of Storage Media

 
Capacity (GB)
Transfer Rate (MB/sec)
# Needed for 20 GB
CD-R
0.65
1.2 (8x unit)
31
CD-R/W
0.65
1.2 (8x unit)
31
DVD-R (4.7GB)
4.7
1.4
4
DVD-R (3.95 GB)
3.95
1.4
5
DVD-RAM (single)
2.6
1.4
8
DVD-RAM (double)
5.2
1.4
4
DLT-IV (Digital Linear Tape)
20
1.5
1
Magnetic Disk
20
5–40
1
Jaz
2
4.9–8.7
10
Zip
0.25
.8–2.4
80


* Courtesy of Tim Au Yeung, Manager of Digital Intiatives, Information Resources Press, University of Calgary.

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Tips on Labeling Your CD DVD Discs

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Amaris Kunakorn

Tips on Labeling Your CD DVD Discs

DVD/CD Labeling Options

We all have discs we haven’t yet labeled. Some of us have just a few; some of us have stacks or mounds or boxes or baskets of them. These collections grow every time we toss a new disc there, after we burn it but before we get around to labeling it.

So how do you label a disc anyway? There are some good answers, some bad answers and some gorgeous answers, many of them right here.

Write Here

If only you thought of this before! Yes, you can write directly on the disc. And yes, you can ruin the disc and maybe the drive when you do that – here’s how to make it work. Use a Sharpie.

Other markers may also work fine, but some may not. Sanford (the makers of Sharpie) tells us that some marker inks can eat into the plastic and may make a disc troublesome, even useless. Sharpie markets a range of markers they offer specifically for use with CD/DVD media, so we’re naming them.

Don’t use a ballpoint pen. Don’t use a pencil. Don’t use a crayon. Writing with a ballpoint or pencil can create enough pressure to damage the layer the laser has to scan, making it unreadable.

Writing with a crayon can let wax transfer to the drive’s head or mechanism, leaving your disc just fine but your drive useless.

The next time you shop for blanks discs (it’s too late for the discs already in that basket), you might want to choose among the Verbatim products with a white area on the label side that makes any printing you do easier to read.

For some of us, alas, who can’t read our own writing, writing isn’t much help. As your grade school teacher may have advised (ours did), when you can’t write neatly, print.

Print a Label

Overall these days, we find that people who have the gear to burn CDs also tend to have color ink jet printers. (OK, that’s obvious, but please don’t yawn).

And certainly there are many products out there that let you print something on your inkjet printer and stick it onto a disc.

And of course, of all those products, we like our Verbatim's own Verbatim Touch-Less Labeling system best. Should you? With our system, you don’t touch the sticky part of the label, you can’t get centering wrong and the label goes down without a wrinkle.

That last part is the best part. A wrinkled or off-center label on a disc spinning at high speeds could make it wobble causing playback trouble. But you decide.

Let the Drive Label the Disc

HP (in cooperation with Mitsubishi Chemical, Verbatim’s parent company) debuted a neat product early in 2004 (headed for stores by the end of 2004) with a bright way of getting a label to appear from inside the drive that burns the disc. The HP Lightscribe drive cleverly changes the way the burner drives the laser to let it create a silkscreen-quality image on the “flip” (label) side of special, compatible discs.

Since Verbatim helped develop the process, you can count on us to offer Lightscribe media for use with those drives.

Print Directly on the Disc

Several printer brands – notably Primera, Epson and Casio – offer specialized printers that print right on a disc and don’t use paper. After you are done reading check out the great range of Verbatim printable CD and DVD media for each of these solutions.

Primera is best known for its production duplicators (burner plus printer), but they also offer the Bravo II model (PCs or Mac) for simply printing directly onto a disc. It is both the most capable and the most expensive of the three direct disc printers here, with the ability to put gorgeous, full-color labels onto hundreds of discs at a sitting. (For occasional use, it is admittedly overkill).

Among its variety of direct disc printers, the Epson Stylus Photo R200 printer is their least expensive model, with the significant bonus of being a superb digital photo printer as well. It prints wonderful full-color images using an advanced 6-ink-cartridge system.

While most disc printers these days are inkjet printers, Casio uses thermal transfer technology to melt miniscule beads of a waxy, ink-impregnated carrier from its ribbon onto the surface of the disc. The Casio printer includes its own keyboard, or you can plug it into USB and let the computer feed it. It prints one color at a time and each ribbon is good for roughly 25-50 discs. Warning: memory failure.

We’ll bet you never thought there were so many ways to deal with getting something onto a disc to give you a hint of what’s on the disc. Please choose and use at least one.

At the moment you first burn a disc, you know exactly what’s on it. A few days later, you may or may not remember. A few weeks later, good luck. It’s just a memory thing.

 

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How to Format USB Flash Drive

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Amaris Kunakorn

How to Format USB Flash Drives and Memory Cards

If you want to format your USB flash drive or flash memory card, you can follow these steps:

  1. Plug your USB flash drive or memory card into the USB slot of your computer.

  2. Normally your system should find it as a removable disk drive automatically.

  3. Open "My Computer" and right click the removable disk drive you have just inserted.

    My Computer screenshot

  4. Click "Format" on the menu that pops up.

    Format the desired drive

  5. A dialogue box named "Format Removable Disk" should appear.

    Format drive options

  6. Select "FAT 32" under the File System and make sure Quick Format is not selected. (If you are not sure, just leave all the selections as default.)

  7. Click the "Start" button.

  8. A pop-up will inform you that the format action will erase all the data in the flash memory. Make sure you want to erase all data on the disk before you click OK. The formatting process will start once you click "OK".

    Confirm option to format drive

  9. Now your formatting is complete and  you can enjoy your flash memory.

    Formatting is complete

Congrats! You’ve learned to format any Flash Drive or memory card!

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OEM Toner vs Compatible or Generic: Can You Trust Them?

Posted on March 7, 2013 by ScottS

Prices being what they are for genuine OEM toner versus compatible or generic cartridges, it is not surprising that many people want to know if they can trust the cheap clones and what the differences are. Some of the questions people have about these low-cost products include: Continue reading →

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Cheap Toner Cartridges: How to Find Discount Replacements That Work

Posted on February 20, 2013 by ScottS

Cheap toner cartridges are only a deal if they actually work and give you good quality print outs from your laser printer. Plenty of people have tried alternatives to the genuine, original manufacturer cartridges only to find that the cartridges they tried caused more trouble than it is worth. Continue reading →

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HP CE505A vs CE505X confusion on differences: how to save money

Posted on February 11, 2013 by ScottS

I’ve seen quite a bit of confusion about the HP CE505A versus CE505X toner cartridges – and with good reason. Some may think of these as the HP 05A or 05X toner cartridges, but it is all about the differences between them and if they are interchangeable. Continue reading →

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Comparing Brother TN-620 vs TN-650 differences and cost savings

Posted on February 5, 2013 by ScottS

There have been many inquires asking to compare Brother TN-620 vs TN-650 differences and determine if any savings in cost can be had. I’ll run through the key comparisons you would want to know about when purchasing Continue reading →

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HP 940 VS 940xl Ink Cartridge Cost Savings Debate

Posted on January 31, 2013 by ScottS

Many people have inquired regarding cost savings on HP 940 VS 940XL ink cartridges. I’ll put that debate to rest here and show you the differences my research has uncovered. I’ll even explain important reasons why HP sells both but most Continue reading →

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Brother TN330 vs TN360 toner cartridges and saving money

Posted on January 22, 2013 by ScottS

You may have been wondering about the Brother TN330 vs TN360 toner cartridges mentioned in the manual after realizing the starter cartridge that came with your new Brother printer only yields about 1,000 pages. Making the right choice can save you money Continue reading →

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HP 564 vs 564XL: Which can I use to save money?

Posted on January 15, 2013 by ScottS

You may have wondered about HP 564 vs 564XL ink cartridges if you own an HP Photosmart or Deskjet printer. Not all Photosmart and Deskjet printers use these cartridges, but HP has sold many that do. So which cartridge can you use and is there a way to save money by choosing smartly? Continue reading →

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Brother TN420 VS TN450: How to save money

Posted on January 10, 2013 by ScottS

Your new Brother printer comes out of the box and there is a starter cartridge that prints a limited number of pages before the toner runs out and you need to get a new Brother TN420 or TN450 replacement. Which do you get and can you save money? Continue reading →

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Why does a new ink cartridge show empty?

Posted on January 4, 2013 by ScottS

Sometimes when you put a brand new ink cartridge in an inkjet printer, the screen shows that the cartridge is empty or not recognized. For example, that can happen on this HP 564 remanufactured ink cartridge.  There are other messages Continue reading →

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Color Printer Toner – Why is it Hard to Get Good Quality?

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Scott

You may find through trial and error that not all color toner printer cartridges use the same quality of ink particles. The truth is that the size of the toner particles has been an ongoing problem within the industry. Continue reading →

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Why are New Drums Important on Remanufactured Toner Cartridges?

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Scott

In the bad ol’ days of remanufactured toner cartridges, the so called “drill-and-fill” cartridges gave remanufactured toners a bad rap. Instead of replacing any of the parts, as many do today, the drill-and-fill guys would simply Continue reading →

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