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Places to buy OT DVD Covers?

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I do think the DVD covers people have posted on here are excellent, but is there anywhere you can buy these professionally done? I have a Canon BJ that, with the right paper and a full color ink pack, would likely do alright, but truthfully I'd rather just lay out the cash.

Any help would be appreciated.
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Professionally printed? Or professionally designed?

I think photoedited high-res bitmaps with gradient-wash skies and vector logo design make for a fairly professional presentation... but maybe that's just me. If it would help, we can always charge you for the covers... y'know, like the pros do.

As for professionally printed... probably Kinkos, or maybe a photo restoration shop, since most of them will be able to do the high resolution prints onto high grade photo paper.
For as much as some people claim to hate what Star Wars has become, they sure seem incapable of shutting up about it.
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Yeesh, is there anywhere I can buy OT DVD covers?

Already dry... done... complete... printed using pro-level hardware... on high-grade backing?
http://web.newsguy.com/theprofessional/ebay/sw_logo_s.jpg
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I suppose then, the answer is "no". Yer just gonna have to use something you find online and pay to have it professionally printed.

And take at look at the official DVD covers for the current release... they look like shit. And those're the only "professional" covers for the OT that exist.

For as much as some people claim to hate what Star Wars has become, they sure seem incapable of shutting up about it.
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I went to Kinkos to get some of mine done. They charged about $3-4 per cover, and overall I'd say they look pretty good on the glossy paper that they used.
40,000 million notches away
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Thanks for the tip Windexed, and I may just head to the local print shop and see if they'll do it. I am worried that I'll get the "we don't do that, you swarmy pirate" deal, but who knows?

P.S. Rebel Rouser, my "professional" comments had NOTHING to do with the quality of the user-done cover, which as I stated originally that I "do think the DVD covers people have posted on here are excellent", but I'm simply trying to save myself a trip to Kinkos (and a few "pirate" glares) on the pro-level print job.

Some of those OT covers really blow me away, but I think I'm going with the TR47 Silver.
http://web.newsguy.com/theprofessional/ebay/sw_logo_s.jpg
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Oh, I wasn't trying to sound insulted there!

I just wasn't sure if you were asking for different designs or different printing options.

As for the printing options, I would highly suggest trying out some nice photo paper on your home printer. You'd be amazed how much good the glossy finish does for the image. Small issues with any lack of detail or resolution from using a home printer disappear with the right photo paper.

The right design and the right paper, and after you slip them into a case, you can't tell that they weren't professionally printed.(Unless your printer really sucks. Like mine does right now, and is why I'm getting a new Epson as a replacement.)

Again, I don't think you've got a lot of choices given the subject matter. You could always buddy up with some Kinkos employees, save yourself the suspicious looks.
For as much as some people claim to hate what Star Wars has become, they sure seem incapable of shutting up about it.
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I never had any problems with the Kinkos employees the few times I went. If anything, I got "you're paying 4 bucks for THIS?!?!" looks from them. But overall they were pretty oblivious to what I was doing.

The only issue I had to deal with was actually getting them the files to print. The covers I was printing were over 2 mb, so I had to actually download them from the internet onto a Kinkos computer. But I don't see why it shouldn't be any harder than putting the files onto a cd and handing it to them to print the covers. Should be pretty easy.
40,000 million notches away
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So when you print these, what works better, to scale the image using Photoshop and then print, or to "scale to fit page" with the larger image?

I've been testing, and they both look good on the screen, just wanted to see if one was better than the other for actual printing.
http://web.newsguy.com/theprofessional/ebay/sw_logo_s.jpg
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Alright, I'm pulling this message over from another thread, hopefully it can provide a little help for you. As for the scaling issue... as long as the things were originally designed at the correct size, it should automatically print at the right size. (It's been so long since I printed anything out though, that I can't be 100% sure anymore! )

Good luck man!

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Originally posted by: BadAsh71
As has been mentioned here numerous times, Kinkos is a great place to get your DVD Covers printed... especially if you don't have a good printer at home.

That being said, if you have a decent color printer at home and don't mind running through your ink then this is what I do and it works great for me:

HP PhotoSmart Photo Printing Software

You don't have to have an HP Printer to use this great software. In fact, I am using an Epson Stylus Photo R300M.

This is what I do, first, you will need to create a new print layout using "Legal" sized paper. Set this new layout to 10.8 inches wide and 7.25 inches tall.

Now, use this new "Legal" sized Layout (10.8 x 7.25) and then load up the image file you need to print.
Drag the photo over from the left (thumbnails) to the page preview on the right. You may have to adjust the image position but don't worry, it will come out fine.

Okay, now that you have the page ready, select "Print..." from the "File" menu and when the dialog appears, select the "Properties" button... you should see this to the right of the Printers list.

In the "Paper Options" section, make sure to select "Legal".

I know you are probably thinking... where the hell do I get "Legal" sized photo paper... well, years ago this would be a problem but in the age of borderless photo printing most printers will have no problem using a "Letter" sized sheet to print on with the "Legal" paper setting as long as the photo will actually fit on the page.

With that said though, do NOT select "borderless" when printing your DVD Covers.... the "borderless" feature will crop and stretch your photo to print on the selected paper size and that is not what we want.

I would recommend a semi-gloss or "satin" photo paper for use in printing DVD Covers. Hell, my wife works in Digital Photo Restoration so we have some great photo paper but when it comes to printing DVD Covers I use the Cheap stuff:

Burlington PrintWorks Satin Photo Paper (90 bright) - 8.5 x 11
Product #00470
http://www.myPrintWorks.com

You can pick this up at Target of all places.

Cheap stuff but prints DVD Covers great

One word of caution... you know how HP and Epson always tell you that you should use paper made by them for the best quality... well, there is some truth to that. The big difference is the drying time. Epson and HP custom make their photo paper to work with their ink and thus the ink will dry on their paper faster. That being said, make sure to be careful if you print on cheaper paper such as the Burlington Printworks paper I listed above. Give it some good drying time and after you cut it out and slap it into your DVD Case you will just sit back and say "damn, that looks good"

Well, of course a half way decent printer helps too

I hope that helps... sorry I have no idea of what to do on the Mac... I'm a programmer and not a Graphic Artist so I use a PC.

Good Luck


For as much as some people claim to hate what Star Wars has become, they sure seem incapable of shutting up about it.
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hey there...

i'm a little confused as to why you'd need legal sized paper. i've printed covers for about a year now and use regular size paper. it seems to work just fine. am i missing out on something?

confused.


also, i've never used photo paper (i rarely use color, i print for my own personal catalogging). how much does it improve the image over really bright white paper? another question, glossy or satin.. which is best? i've heard that one sticks to the plastic of the dvd case and one doesn't.


thanks!