R280 prints paper fine; DVDs not so much

[ctjayhawker]

Hi, All!

OK, I am in possession a StylusPhoto R280, just bought new from a local seller. Still had brand new Epson ink in it. After a couple cleanings, it prints dandy. On paper. For some reason, when I print a DVD, the colors don't print right; it very much favors magenta over everything else. I printed a text image in which I had altered the color of a few characters to light blue; it printed those characters as faded pink. I printed a shiny chrome-y movie logo---it came out fuzzy fuchsia. Any ideas?

Addendum: just tried another one consisting of an image of all-black text. Came out looking like I took my glasses off to look at it. >:-( HELP!

 

[Deleted member 14725]

Hi, All!

OK, I am in possession a StylusPhoto R280, just bought new from a local seller. Still had brand new Epson ink in it. After a couple cleanings, it prints dandy. On paper. For some reason, when I print a DVD, the colors don't print right; it very much favors magenta over everything else. I printed a text image in which I had altered the color of a few characters to light blue; it printed those characters as faded pink. I printed a shiny chrome-y movie logo---it came out fuzzy fuchsia. Any ideas?

Addendum: just tried another one consisting of an image of all-black text. Came out looking like I took my glasses off to look at it. >:-( HELP!

You could try to compensate the color on your preferred image software like Photoshop or if it's line artwork, then Indesign or something like that. Second option is to try to compensate using the Epson control panel (on the printer), when you try printing there are different options available (paper, balance, brightness, contrast, gamma, etc).

Other than that... it's about exploring, I owned several Epson printers but I don't own the model you describe right now so I can't try or confirm: try changing the paper type. The color engine changes the ink mix depending on several factors like resolution or paper type, lots of people report similar issues like yours on diff forums regarding adhesive labels for CDs/DVDs or printing directly on Cds/DVDs.

I printed on such media in the past (with diff printer models) and I noticed slight color changes, but not as big as you mention. I could compensate changing the resolution and paper type, also compensating my final artwork.

If none of this works for you... try some ancient tweak some users tried while fabricating their own DIY printable media, I can confirm out of curiosity I tried this myself, and it's about protecting your CD/DVD properly in order to apply white paint (waterbased or "acrylic" water based, yes such bottles do exist), wait for it to try, then print. The porous surface accepts the ink right away, no problem. As said I tried this out of curiosity, spray white paint doesn't work the same way. And yes after trying I never bought any printable CD again, instead I did this myself.

Good luck.