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| Posted by | Dennis |
| Posted on | 08/01/04 14:08 |
| Number of views | 16428 |
We're, as always, going to start our review by checking out the contents of the package TDK Europe send to us. In the box we can find the following items:
- TDK LPCW-100
- USB cable
- Ink ribbon cassette (TR-18BK-T black)
- Power supply (UK/EU)
- TDK Speed-X 80min CD-R
- Label printer software disc for Windows (Mac OS X software can be freely downloaded from TDK Europe)
- Quick start guides (eight languages)
- Warranty information
There isn't much to tell about the TDK LPCW-100 package. It includes everything you need to start printing and the only things we missed were the colour ink ribbon cassettes. For the LPCW-100 there are four colour ink ribbon cassettes available; blue, red, silver and green. The length of the ribbons of each cassette is 4 meters which, according to the TDK press release, is enough for printing between 20 and 48 discs.
Specifications:
| Specifications TDK CD/DVD label printer LPCW-100 | |
| Interface: | USB1.0/1.1 |
| Print type: | Thermal transfer |
| Resolution: | 300dpi |
| Print speed: | 9.00mm/sec. (black) 5.1mm/sec. (blue/red/silver) |
| Print area: | 74 x 16mm |
| Power: | AC 100-240V/13W |
| Weight: | 900g |
| Dimensions (w x d x h): | 70 x 195 x 181,5 mm |
| Operating temperature: | 10 - 35 C |
| Available TDK ink ribbon cassettes | |
| TR-18BK-T | Black |
| TR-18RD-T | Red |
| TR-18BU-T | Blue |
| TR-18SR-T | Silver |
| TR-18GR-T | Green |
| Ink ribbon length: | 4m (40 x area) |
| Minimum system requirements | |
| Pentium 266 MHz or equivalent processor | |
| Operating System Windows® 98- Second Edition/Me/2000/XP | |
| At least 64 MB RAM | |
| Free USB port | |
| 40 MB available hard drive space for installation, and 60MB for running the application | |
| Color Display (Min. 256color / 800x600 dot resolution compatible with Windows® 98- Second Edition/Me/2000/XP) | |
| The application may not be able to run correctly on certain system hardware and software configurations. Operation under Windows® 3.1, 95, and NT, on a Macintosh, and under Mac OS are not supported | |
From the specifications of the TDK LPCW-100 we can see that the printable disc area is 74 x 16mm. This rectangular shape area can be printed at once but the enclosed software supports two area printing function also. It is possible to print in colour but keep in mind that the LPCW-100 can only handle one ink cassette at a time. The TDK LPCW-100 can print both text and images but not at the same time. This can only be solved by creating an image which includes the text and then copy it into the TDK software which we'll get back to later. The maximum image size that can be printed is 592 x 128 pixels.
Installation:
The installation of the TDK LPCW-100 is very easy. The included printed quick start guides are very easy to follow. You simply first install the software, then connect the label printer to your computer via USB and turn it on. Once it's turned on the computer, running Windows XP SP1 in our case, will automatically recognize the label printer and install it. The drivers that come with the TDK LPCW-100 were not digitally signed for Windows XP but this was no problem. Once the printer has been connected we can open the tray and install the ink ribbon cassette. This is also very easy to do.
Next up: the software!
Introduction
You can print on any CD or DVD you want to but, as said in the review, it's best to use discs that have a smooth surface. Inkjet printers often (always?) need special discs which this TDK printer does not.
I'll stick with printing on nice shiny CDDVD labels...much better quality...
The only difference is you have to turn the disk yourself.
LPCW-50: 150 dpi
LPCW-100: 300dpi
Soz for being an ' armchair critic ', but the review examples were particularly unadventurous! if you threshold an image in Photoshop and-or tweak the levels a bit, this is perfect to drop into the printer software and works a treat. I'll be back to this review with a URL for samples from my LPCW-50.
Also, I feel this complements a good sleeve.. some people don't want full coverage of a DVD or CD with an inkjet, simplicity sometimes suits a situation.
I'm working on rewinding the cartridge, but TDK have made this difficult.. a pity, as a blank space the size of the print area is left on the ribbon in between every used part of the cartridge, which, when you think about it, is madness, I'm working on an idea.. this will hopefully double the capacity of the cartridges, lowering the CD print-ratio for this rather clever machine.
[edited by mea_culpa on 17.02.2004 11:38]
I have several recorded DVD's I would like to label but don't want to corrupt the data.
Also you can print on HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray too!
In fact you can use it to print at any 120 mm disc that exists or it is going to exist at the future.
YOU SEND FOR ME? HOW MONY PAY?
THANKS.. Mike...
This message was edited at: 31-03-2008 02:11
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