Presentation is everything. After investing time and effort editing the perfect video, you owe it to yourself to create a professional presentation for your DVD. With even budget inkjets creating photo-quality prints, this task becomes so much easier - it's cheap and easy to create a Hollywood style DVD box. The only limit is your creativity. We take a look at the various options available and provide a few templates to get you started!

The DVD Disc

The DVD sticker remains a firm favourite with the amateur videographer. Offering a cheap way of customizing any blank DVD, this method of "DVD beautification" is both the most popular and loathed solution. Cheaper label's tendency to peel off under hot temperatures, as reported on several video forums, isn't the ideal scenario for the high temperatures of a PC, and even worse for a laptop style drive where the offending label becomes entwined in the drive's internals. Worse still are stories of badly positioned labels causing discs to spin irregularly, rendering the discs unplayable and again causing potential damage.

But as with most stories, they represent extremes.

Avery have an easy to apply solution for DVD labels using their innovative After burner system. This nifty little gadget ensures every label is positioned in the center of your disc - avoiding that untidy, unprofessional look and minimising the risk of creating a coaster. There's two parts to the system: the applicator and the special sticker labels which attach to the applicator. Simply hook the label over the applicator, position your DVD on top and push the after burner down. This avoids both bubbles and badly positioned labels.

1. hook the label over the lugs	2. place the DVD over the top
3. push down	4. and the label is perfectly centered

Most label applicators ship with template software to enable perfect printing of disc labels. In my experience this bundled software is vastly inferior to even the most basic of image editing applications, but label packaging should come with dimensions of the sheets to let you to create your own templates in your favoured image editor. Cover XP is also a great alternative to bundled template software. Coming with templates as standard for virtually every available DVD label type, this application takes your predesigned image and makes it ready for printing.

For CD printing, simply create a new canvas in your favourite graphics package with square dimensions (you might want to create a circle inside which touches all four edges to act as a guide) - you can download the template I created for this guide here. You can then position your images/text, and import this image to Cover XP for printing. After selecting the template to match your DVD labels, you can print you label with or without guidelines. The same application can also be used for printing DVD covers (hence the name!)

Adding a glossy finish to your label is also adds that professional touch. With disc laminators out of the home user's price range, a cheap alternative is Inkjet Fixative Spray, this will give your disc or label a waterproof and smudge-proof coating, and help protect the colour against sunlight.

Available in a variety of high quality finishes, using labels has the added advantage of printing errors not wasting an entire disc! However, white top DVDs ready to print are no more expensive than a standard disc, and printing directly to disc has become a viable alternative thanks to printers such as the R200 from Epson.

Using a DVD printer such as the R200 is potentially more cost effective than using labels. Doubling as a standard inkjet printer, the R200 is an ideal replacement unit for anyone looking for a replacement budget inkjet. The added advantage of epson's range of printer is the unmatched quality for direct to disc printing at this price range - alternatives available such as standalone printers from TDK, typically only enable low quality text prints. The R200 and R300 are available for around £70/£150 respectively.

[insert pictures and a mini review of the R200]

For mass volume printing, a dedicated direct to disc printer becomes an option. Direct to disc printing solutions can also be combined with dvd duplication units, but both these solutions are suited to a commercial rather than home environment. Dedicated direct to disc printers typically start at around £300, with 100 capacity automated units at the higher end retailing for up to £2,000.

The final alternative in DVD printing is to combine printing with commercial duplication. This probably isn't a solution for home users, but might be an attractive option for anything over a production run of 50 DVD's; although the costs of materials would be less than getting the DVD's printed, the cost saving in terms of efficiency gains is enormous! Burning, printing and packaging anything more than ten DVD's is a time consuming process and DVDs from a professional duplication specialist are inevitably finished to a superior quality.

The cover

The DVD cover, or sleeve, is arguably more important than the disc labeling as this is your first impression to anyone seeing your DVD. The design of traditional amaray cases makes creating DVD case covers a lot easier than CD inserts. Specialist software such as Cover XP is available to aid in the print and design of your cover, but the easiest method is to create or download your own template. Simply create a new image with a reasonably high dpi for printing, with the following print size: 10.75 inches wide by 7.188 inches high. The front and back covers are each 5.094 inches, which leaves 0.563 inches for the spine. As ever, the quality of the final output is entirely dependant on the materials used, so it's well worth using better stock paper printed at a high resolution to add a touch of quality.

As we've show, getting that sought after professional presentation need not involve a huge outlay. The Epson R200 can print both your DVD sleeve and direct to disc at extremely economical cost. If you combine this with fixing spray, you'll be creating lasting DVDs on a budget.