TDK LPCW-100 CD/DVD Label Printer

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G@M3FR3@K
Senior Moderator: Article posted 08 Jan 04 14:08

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Introduction

Review: TDK LPCW-100 CD/DVD Label Printer
Reviewer: Dennis
Provided by: TDK Europe

The TDK company has been around for many years and everyone will have heard of the company. TDK manufactures electronic components and recordable CD and DVD media. TDK also manufactures optical products such as CD-RW and DVD-RW recorders and since recently they have also added CD/DVD label printers to their product range. In November 2002 TDK launched their first model, the LPCW-50. Roughly one year later TDK announced the follow-up model of this CD/DVD label printer, the LPCW-100.

Compared to the previous model the TDK LPCW-100 printer has a higher print resolution (300dpi compared to 200dpi for the LPCW-50) and support for more colours (five colours compared to four colours for the LPCW-50). Today, thanks to TDK Europe, we’ll take a look at the LPCW-100 CD/DVD label printer. According to the press release TDK Europe send out, the printer is incredibly easy to use and discs will be printed with dry ink which should prevent smudging. We’ll of course test if this is indeed the case.

Test Machine:

Before we get started we should mention the specifications of the computer we’re using for the tests. Our test computer has the following specifications and it’s running the Dutch Windows XP Professional SP1 operating system:

Hardware:

Motherboard: GigaByte GA-7VAXP
Processor: AMD AthlonXP 2100+ (1.74GHz)
RAM: 512MB (PC2700)
GFX: ASUS V8200 (GeForce 3 Ti200)
Hard Disks: Maxtor 40GB + Western Digital 120GB (both 7200rpm)

On the next page of our review we’ll take a look at the package and the specifications of the LPCW-100.

Package

18 Comments

MP|3: Posts: 2938; Posted on: 08 Jan 04 14:39

The printer looks quite nice! To bad there is not much room for texts and the colors can't be used at the same time. Very handy if you want to print a quick label on a cd though!!

Hemispasm: Posts: 5252; Posted on: 08 Jan 04 16:02

I thought it would require special CDs to print on .. or is that for inkjet printers that can also print on CDs?

G@M3FR3@K: Posts: 10655; Posted on: 08 Jan 04 16:07

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.

GristyMcFisty: Posts: 634; Posted on: 08 Jan 04 17:43

Bit of a pointless product if you can't print the full colour images one might acquire from say...the front of a CD or DVD disc... :d I'll stick with printing on nice shiny CDDVD labels...much better quality...

Danny Kiwi: Posts: 10; Posted on: 11 Jan 04 13:13

I think Glossy Labels done on my Inkjet look better..Using Sure thing and the likes, it makes it very easy to produce a startling label..If the thing was cheaper it would not be too bad for doing quickies:X

jaming: Posts: 2; Posted on: 06 Feb 04 16:46

How do I get one of these in America? Is anyone selling local or do I need to find one in the UK?

Drut: Posts: 2; Posted on: 13 Feb 04 22:46

Tandy in the UK are selling the TDK pcw 50 printer for £65.00 The only difference is you have to turn the disk yourself.

mea_culpa: Posts: 51; Posted on: 17 Feb 04 11:29

Drut, I think there may be a DPI difference between the LPCW-50 (which I've had for nearly eight months) and the LPCW-100 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]

Lawrence Elliot: Posts: 1; Posted on: 07 Jan 05 16:50

Has anyone tried printing on a recorded DVD? Did it corrupt the data? I have several recorded DVD's I would like to label but don't want to corrupt the data.

Saxtus: Posts: 16; Posted on: 19 Jul 06 10:48

If you print at the label side (that was meant for) there is no corruption at all. 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.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 03 Mar 07 13:54

I've had a TDK LPCW-100 for over a year now. You can actually be quite adventurious with it. With practice (and with a few wasted discs and, yes, expensive print-ribbon areas at first) you can even do shaded pictures from photos or other designs if you lighten them - substantially - in "Photoshop" etc. and save as a bmp. or jpg. Also, you can overlay different colours, if you are in extravagant mood. Just change the ribbon - DON'T move the disc! Be careful and - Think Before You Print! May not be as flashy as Ink-Jet but can look at least as professional if done right and avoids disc-destabling stick-on paper labels...

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 03 Jun 07 14:32

HO CANCELLATO IL MIO PROGRAMMA DI CD/DVD PRINTER LABEL LPCW-50 GRAZIE ADAm

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 10 Feb 08 09:41

pls can it print on any cd or can i see the coulor to buy in anywhere

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 30 Mar 08 12:33

woud you like TDK TR-18BK-T BLANK IN YOU SEND FOR ME? HOW MONY PAY? THANKS.. Mike...

jozefs: Posts: 2; Posted on: 31 Mar 08 02:05

I have a Casio CW 50 I purchased at Fry's Electronics about a year ago for $49.95. It looks just like this printer, but prints at 200 DPI. The ribbon cassettes are $9.95 each. The review is correct in stating the high cost of printing disks and the waste of printing ribbon. And it can print on any smooth surface disk.
This message was edited at: 31-03-2008 02:11

jozefs: Posts: 2; Posted on: 31 Mar 08 02:16

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 31 Mar 08 19:42

GOOD

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 03 Aug 08 23:32

This is real crap! That stuff does not work with Apple OSX at all. Do not waste your money like I did.

TDK LPCW-100 CD/DVD Label Printer

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