Primera Composer - Signature III - Printer Friendly version

- Introduction:
Most users are happy with their home CDR-W drive. The most recent CDR-W drives with the 16x/20x/24x writing speed are able to produce enough amount of CDs per hour but with time problems since the human factor is involved. When the time comes for increased quantity among with other features, such as CD printing, normal solutions are out of question.. Long time now professionals are using the so-called "Auto-loader" systems.

- What is an "Auto-loader" system? (Source Padus DJ on-line manual)
"...A CD autoloader consists of one or more CD Recorders that are able to accept, for consecutive loading into their trays, blank recordable CDs from a stack. In addition to the accurate duplication of the source compact discs which are often interspersed with blank discs. The special software handles the task of controlling the autoloader robotics, so that blank media are correctly loaded into the CD Recorder, defective discs discarded, and successful duplicate discs removed after recording. Autoloaders are normally a combination of a drive section (with one or more CD Recorder devices) and a robotic section. CD Recorders are usually devices that use a SCSI interface to communicate with the host computer while the robotic section can either use a RS-232 (serial) or SCSI interface (parallel)..."

was founded in September of 1998 by the same management team that built FARGO Electronics. "...Primera's mission is to produce technologically superior products that offer a high degree of customer satisfaction and value while conducting business affairs with unparalleled integrity, courtesy and professionalism.." as Primera states in their website. Primera's headquartered are in Plymouth, Minnesota, USA, and distributes its products in over 80 countries! We tested the Primera Composer Optical Disc Duplicator among with the Signature III CD Printer.

"...The Composer is a low cost, turnkey duplication system that can be configured for either CD-R or DVD-R. It duplicates and optionally prints up to 50 discs per job from any Windows based PC. A "pick-and-place" robotic arm transports discs from an input tray to the integrated CD-R or DVD-R recorder. After recording, the disc is transported to an optional Primera Technology ink-jet or thermal optical disc printer where it is printed and then stacked in a 50-disc output tray. The Composer comes either with Plextor 12x SCSI or Pioneer DVD-R recorder...".

In other words you are getting a small CD/DVD duplication factory in your home! Note that the Composer system is not supporting either MAC or Linux OS system. The problem here is not the hardware but the CDR software. Both MAC and Linux OS have very limited variety of CDR software. Another issue is that the possible buyer cannot reduce the initial cost by dropping off the included CDR-W drive. The Primera insists that this cannot happen since there is an alignment and testing procedure so that discs are perfectly placed into the tray each and every time. That ensures the proper working of the Composer duplicator.

How many CDs can I make per hour?
This depends on 2 things: 1) how much data is recorded on each disc, and (2) how much is printed on each disc. In a typical software application, only a small portion of the disc is recorded - perhaps 50MB of the possible 650MB on the disc. An entire 650MB records in six minutes on a 12x CD-R drive. So, 50MB would take only about one minute. Printing in 600 x 600 dpi default mode on a Signature III CD Color Printer also takes one minute. So, each disc takes two minutes from start to finish. This yields 30 discs per hour.

Does Composer need to always be connected to a computer?
Yes. It is what's called a "PC Connect" duplicator. The other type of duplicator available is usually called a "Stand-alone." Stand-alone duplicators have a PC board inside them instead of connecting to the PC you already own. Each have their own place in the market, but PC Connect duplicators like Composer are usually much more versatile due to the application-specific software (i.e. Prassi PrimoCD Pro) that is shipped with them.

Who will need the Composer duplicator system?
Primera answers: "....Software duplication is currently the number one application for disc publishing systems like Composer. Music, games, data, billing, imaging (medical, legal, etc.) and more are also very popular. Look for companies who need to produce small batches of CDs every day and frequently need to change or update the information. A typical user will produce from a few discs up to several hundred discs per day..."

Why spend $2495 for a Composer when I can offer my customer a $200 CD-R drive or a $1000 duplicating tower?
Primera answers: "...One word: automation. Composer uses robotics to reliably and consistently feed discs into and out of the Input Bin, CD-R recorder, printer and Output Bin. Most users will start up their Composer early in the morning or before leaving at night. When they return, 50 finished discs, recorded and printed, are waiting for them. Composer usually isn't sold to users who need only 3 or 4 discs a day. It is for those companies who need to produce 25, 50, 100, 1000 or more discs on a regular, weekly basis. .."

- Primera Signature III CD Printer:
"...Signature III is an ink-jet CD color printer. It combines the fastest print speed ever with the highest print resolution available in the world today: 1200 x 1200 dpi for a stunning 1.44 million pixels per square inch. A full -color CD with 100% coverage prints in just 68 seconds (in default 600 x 600 dpi print mode). Signature III features a new and improved ink formulation. Color gamut has been increased over 35%, delivering incredibly bright, bold and realistic colors. It also prints onto the widest variety of printable-surface media ever..."

- Supplied Package:
The package was all the nessecery stuff which someone would need in order to start a mini-cd duplication home factory (including CD printing option). In short words we got: the Composer CD duplicator, the Singature III CD printer, the printer stand-alone stand, the SCSI-kit -includes Advanasys Ultra SCSI controller, the parallel cable IEEE-1284 and last 50 Primera printable CD-R 74min media. The whole package costs according to the Primera's current price list about 4500$!

Test Machine:
WinMe/Win2k
Soyo 7VCA
Celeron II 566 over clocked to 850 MHz
128MB SDRAM PC 133
WD 18GB UDMA 66
Quantum Fireball EX 6.4GB
SCSI: DAWI 2975 - PCI (ULTRA)
ATI AIW 128
Scanner: HP 5300C
Sanyo CRD-BP4 firmware v4.31
Sanyo CRD-BP1400P firmware v5.31
Yamaha CRW2100E firmware v1.0h

2. Installation

- Installation:
The installation part was much different from those we had ever done in past, when reviewing CDR-W drives. In start we were confused by the amount of cables we had to connect between the PC/Composer/Singnature III systems but finally after reading the included manuals we managed it. Note that you should definatly READ the included manuals for both Composer and Signature III systems. They have detailed pictures and information that will lead you in how connect the necessary parts. After we finished the assembling task we had both the Composer/Signature III systems to fire up!

If you have both systems you will need to align the Printer among with the Composer system. This is a crucial part so the robotic arm could grab the CD and drop them in the Printer's tray. How you can do it? There are 3 Philips screws around the printer stand. As you use the pickup button (in the front panel) to archive the perfect fitting position. Tight up again the screws and you are ready to use your system. We didn't follow that tip in the beginning so we had some problems with the picking arm alignment. After reading again the manual we solved the problem immediately.

The Signature III CD Printer is a very solid machine. In the front of the printer you will find the loading tray among with 2 led (can show you the exact state of the printer and if something go wrong you will find a list of possible explanations inside the printer manual) and 3 buttons in the top (power off, load/eject tray and the ink cartridge buttons). Pulling down the front panel we can have a very easy access to the inside of the Singature III printer. You will notice the extended use of metal inside the printer, which makes it a very good option for not so easy environments.

In the back of the printer you will find the power port, the auxiliary port (used to connect with the Composer system), the serial interface port (not used-only for factory use) and of course the parallel interface port (connection with PC) and a label with the proper settings for the alignment of the printer (check below picture).

For the "Signature III" printer you will need to use the included CD in order to install the printer drivers among with the 32bit Spooler software, which however gives higher printing times than the "direct write to port setting" - not sure why Primera suggests installing 32bit Spooler in the first time.

Primera also suggests that you must install the Signature III in an ECP/EPP printer port in order to have the maximum speed and lower CPU load. Note that the 32bit Spooler software is not needed under Win2k. Finally you should install the included SureThing CD Labeler software. It's just the best software for printing CD labels around. For our tests we used a newer version (v2.10.18) than the one included.

3. Installation (2)

After the installation if we visit the Printers folder we will notice that a new printer has been added "CD Color Printer III". If we check the properties we will notice the following tabs (at WinMe OS):

In the above tab you can select the type of the media (CD or custom sized CDs) and also if you wish to rotate or use the faster printing option (which gives however reduced printed quality). Faster Printing speeds up the tray speed slightly. It's for people who want a little extra boost in speed; however, there is a potential for print quality to suffer (it may vary from print to print). That is why the driver gives the user a warning to use at his own risk when using faster printing.

In the second tab we find the device options. Here we can select the type of the cartridge, the print resolution (600x600 or 1200x1200) and color matching for the color. Note that Primera suggests using the default PrimaColor for most CD prints. The available selections are: "none", "algebraic" and "primacolor". The bad here is that under Win9x you cannot adjust the settings for the "algebraic" color setting. However you can under the Win2k (check below). Primera's manual doesn't give much information about those settings among with several real life examples to explain when and why we should use the "algebraic" setting over the "primacolor".

In the cartridge screen we see the remaining level of the color/black cartridge. In this screen also we can select the type of the cartridge when we choose to switch between color/dark. The manufacturer gives around 150-250 CDs number before the ink ends (when printing color CDs). If the ink ends you can buy another one over Primera's online website for 55$. Note that this setting is based upon calculations done by the software driver.. This means that if you re-install the printer in another PC or OS system the printer ink jet levels will be again 100% remaining. Primera has announced the Signature IV CD printer, which solves this problem since now the ink level is monitored directly from the printer.

In the last tab we find the calibrate options. In the back of the printer there are 2 numbers, which are ,possibly, unique for each printer. In our case it showed 6 in vertical and 0 in horizontal. You need to insert those numbers and do the test print ,with the 5 supplied blank cardboard CD templates, in order to be sure about the center of the printed CDs.

If you install the Signature III over Win2k platform you will see the same amount of details in the Advanced properties tab:

4. Printing Software

In order to print you can use the included "Surething CD Labeler" software. When we select New (from the File menu), a wizard welcomes us and we can select the type of the printing and the appropriate printer:

If we continue the wizard we can choose the background of the printed CD among with any text or other picture we would love to see printed! The Surething CD Labeler seems to be very good and you will be able to make fast and easy printed CDs!

You can also use the PrimoCD's included "Disc Face Editor", which however doesn't work properly under Win9x OS. Primera has included a warning sheet saying that the software doesn't print bmp files under Win9x and this problem should be corrected soon...:( They state also that this problem doesn't appear in the Win2k (we confirmed that with our tests). The problem is not with PrimoCD itself; the problem is with printing bitmaps using the Disc Face Editor that PrimoCD has integrated. You can print background colors and text with Disc Face Editor, but not bitmaps. However, you can use any other imaging application (Corel, Photoshop, etc.) to create a PRN (image printed to FILE) and then you can select this PRN from within PrimoCD.

Let's see what features the "Disc Face editor" contains: With the Disc Face Editor you can create the .pfx PrimoCD Pro files which will be used for the printing tasks. The procedure is quite easy: Just go in Edit>>Select Image and pick the desired background picture of the CD. After that you can use the build in alignment in order placing the background image in the center and add text (type in the empty box) or insert special text functions (like Copy numbers, serial number etc.) and of course change the attributes of the text (font, size, color etc.). After you finalizing the project head over the File>>Save and save your template for later use.

In every task you open there is the option to print so there you can insert the template you have already made. Under the Robotics options you can specify if you wish to Copy and Print at the same time. This will reduce the total time of the copy/printing task.

5. Printing Performance

The Signature III system supports 3 printing modes, 600x300 dpi, 600x600 dpi and 1200x1200 dpi, which can be selected from the printer driver settings. The printer supports both color and monochrome inks. The color ink is assembled from 3 colors (C, M, Y) and black monochrome (K). With those 3 colors the printer will generate up to 16.7millions colors in almost any printable surface of CD-R, CDR-W, DVD-R. Since the printer uses ink-jet technology you are limited only to the CD/DVD blank printable media.

Manufacturer	Model	Printable	Info
Primera	16x compatible "duff coated"	Yes	ATIP: 97m 24s 01f Disc Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden Company Ltd. Assumed Dye type: Cyanine (Type 1) Media type: CD-Recordable Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown nominal Capacity: 656.40MB (74m 43s 00f / LBA: 336075)
Sony	CDQ-74CP	Yes
Verbatim	"fast dry"	Yes	ATIP: 97m 34s 21f Disc Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Chemicals Corp. Assumed Dye type: Cyanine (Type 1) Media type: CD-Recordable Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown nominal Capacity: 656.40MB (74m 43s 00f / LBA: 336075)
Maxell		Yes	ATIP: 97m 25s 23f Disc Manufacturer: Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. Assumed Dye type: Cyanine (Type 3) Media type: CD-Recordable Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown nominal Capacity: 654.49MB (74m 30s 00f / LBA: 335100)

Our tests showed that the Signature III seems to produce the best results with the Taiyo Yuden white tops printable media. The produced CDs had very good colors and high brightness and shine. When used Verbatim's printable media the produced printable CDs had good colors but missed the brightness and the shine the Taiyo Yuden based media (Primera,Sony) had. Lastly, the Maxell printable media (white tope) didn't gave the excepted results. When used the Maxell printable media (silver printable top) the produced CD had better brightness but again didn't reached the levels of the Taiyo Yuden based media. Also we noticed that the 1200 dpi resolution results with Maxell printable media where worst than the lower 600dpi.

What about normal none printable CDs? Can those be printed with Signature III? The answer is no. Since the printer uses ink-jet technology the media must have printable (most time white) top. If you don't like using only CD printable CDs you must look for an advanced solution called "Thermal Printer"! Primera has a solution for you :)

- Tests:
First we tried to see if the printer's real performance is what the specs say. We used the "bank.tif" image from the Signature III setup CD and tried all available printing modes. For the test proposes we used the "Write Direct to the Port" setting since the 32bit Spooler software seems to give slight higher printing times:

Printer Resolution	Result Test Time (sec) (including loading CD time)	Manufacturer time (sec)
Fast 600 (600x300 dpi)	33	27
Normal 600 (600x600 dpi)	72	68
Best 600 (600x600 dpi)	111	?
Presentation 1200 (1200x1200 dpi)	137	134

As we can see the real time tests are very close to the one that Primera gives in the manual. There is a little difference (probably Primera doesn't count the loading time), which however is not that, important. The Signature III prints very fast (600x600dpi at 1:57min). I know what you are thinking..What about the quality of the produced CDs?

The Primera suggests for Normal 600 as the default setting. From our tests there is a visual difference between the two 600dpi printing modes. The 1200x1200 resolution is the best (theoretically), colors are full and without any visible printing lines. The 600x600dpi has small differences from the 1200dpi resolution and we think that this should be the default for most daily tasks since it uses much less time (and ink). The 600x300 dpi is just not worth looking for any serious task and should be used only for test prints.

We also used our home scanner (HP 5300C) for making several CD scans and try printing afterwards. We noticed that the Surething CD Labeler software had a hard time with very big images (1200x1200dpi) and worked fine with lower 600x600 scanned images. The results weren't so good, especially in this case since the quality of the scanned image is the main subject. If the source is not good how can you expect to have good print results? Also keep in mind that you will have to play with the printer settings (Ink saturation setting - Primera suggest 50 value when using their CDs...Experiment with the rest) and also with the quality of the printable media.

6. Composer CD Duplicator

- Installation:
The system is connected to the SCSI card through a short length, SCSI cable (50pins high density) to the PC. You will also use the -included- serial cable and connect the system in the serial port. This needed for controlling the robotic arm movements. The build-in recorder is the well-known PleXWriter PX-W1210S SCSI CDR-W drive (firmware 1.00). After the initial setup we installed the latest 1.01 firmware revision for the PX-W1210S and we were ready to start own mini CD duplication/printing factory!

You can upgrade the Composer system with ANY SCSI CDR-W drive, as long the included software -Prassi PrimoCD Pro- supports it. In other words when PX-W1610S or Sanyo CRD-BP5 is out can make an upgrade and boost up the recording speed up to 16x-24x! However for our testing proposes we didn't tried to upgrade the drive since the issue here was how the Composer performs with the basic setup. Also the screws that hold down the Plextor PX-W1210S were very tightened screwed!

If we take a closer look in the inside (check left picture) you will notice the big card which control the recorder, the robotic arm and the recorder it self. The various cables are well tightened up and the whole structure seems very complete. As we said earlier if you ever decide to change your recorder you will face some very tighten screws. Heh..let's continue our internal view.

The robotic arm is placed upon a vertical screw companioned in a plastic column in the center of the Composer. The arm can move up and down

and left to right with the proper electric motors (check right picture). The end of the arm has another mechanism, which grabs the CDs by their center hubs (check left picture). However the arm cannot pickup 8cm CDs or mini CDs. Last the robotic arm makes a lot of noise so if you over-do it your neighbors will start knocking at your door..

In the top of the system you will find 3 places in which you put the included Bins. The package comes with 2 plastic Bins, which hold up to 50 CDs. You just place them in the proper position and you are ready to start duplicating

In the front of the Composer you will notice the big "Composer" logo and 2 led (Power and Pause) and 3 buttons:

- Pause: It stops the motion of the robotic arm. It can also be used with other buttons to perform other operations (reset, error-clearing..)
- Sequence: Moves the robotic arm from one position to the next. You will probably use it for testing proposes during the setup (as we did).
- Pick: It used to pick up manually a disc and drop it in the bin, the recorder, the printer or in the reject area.

- Power connector: It gives the system electric power.
- Serial connector: It connects the system with the PC (either COM 1 or 2) in order control the robotic arm (and the printer) from the software.
- SCSI connector: It connects the system externally with the SCSI controller.

and the mini din plug for using it

with the Signature III CD printer. Also you will find several holes, which are used for attaching the base of the Primera CD printers (Signature III). Last there is an open hole for additional fun, which however is not placed by default. Maybe if you plan to use at high temperature environment you should add it.

Last there is the reject area in where the system drops all the CDs, which don't pass the software verification test or just happened to be coasters! The robotic arm will just drop the CD in the front of the system. There for example you could have some kind of bag to gather all those bad CDs (hope you haven't lot of them!).

In the above picture you can see the whole Composer/Signature III system ready to operate!

7. Composer CDR Software

For the "Composer" system you don't need to install any drivers but only the included CDR software, which is Prassi PrimoCD Pro (Primera version) v1.3.392. This is a modified version of the well-known Prassi PrimoCD Plus, which controls the duplicator.

When you run the Prassi PrimoCD Pro for the first time, a screen will popup and will ask from you to select where the Composer recorder is installed:

In our case the Plextor PX-W1210A had the ID4. After pressing OK you will see the familiar interface of the Prassi PrimoCD Pro, which this time has some extra buttons. The new buttons control the robotic arm (insert/remove CD from the CDR-W drive). If we press the forth button the robotics option will come up:

From here you can select the port in which you have installed the composer serial cable and the printer port (in our case LPT1). Also you can check the communication between the PC and the Composer in order to see any possible troubles.

Continuing we find the robotics movement test tab. From here we can test the robotics movements in a full circle (only for copying/printing or for both tasks). All the other options are the same with the normal Prassi PrimoCD Pro we had tested in past..

- Duplicate CDs (using your CD-ROM - or using a CD image). The Prassi PrimoCD is not very good here. If the CD has read errors (as most of the current protected CDs does) the reading/writing process simply stops. We feel that Padus DJ should be a better solution in this area.

- Streaming feature, in which the user places the master CD -that would be copied- among with the number of the blank CD to be written. The Composer loads the master CD, makes an image of it and makes as many copies as the number of the existing blank CDs. Multiple master CDs can be mixed with the blank CDs, you will have to specify the numbers of the blanks now of each task and cue the jobs.

- Store your HD data and make multiples copies of it. Here is where the PrimoCD Pro real weakness is...It's almost impossible to manage the folders/files in the way you want in a very easy way since the problem doesn't support the famous explorer which the competition supports (Padus DJ).

From what we have noticed there are more software solution in case you want something more powerful ,especially in the area of CD to CD copy since they support DAO-RAW writing. Padus plan to fully support the Composer/Signature III system in the near future so possible buyers would have much more options than the Prassi PrimoCD offers (especially in the duplication of protected CDs).

8. Movements of the Robotic Arm

As you have figured out by now the Composer's main weapon is the robotic arm, which moves in various ways and picks-up the empty/burned/printed CDs. Let's see how the robotic arm's movements work. Below is a diagram which shows what is the logic behind the movements of the robotic arm:

Yes I know that you probably have understood the above diagram but let's also see how the system works with many pictures ;)

In this phase the robotic arm moves above the "Input Bin", lowers down and grabs an empty CD.

In this phase the robotic arm moves to the right above the opened CD tray. It stops, lowers down and finally places the CD in the empty tray. The CD tray closes and the burning starts. If in the same time you are printing a CD then the robotic arm moves back to the center in order to pickup the printed CD and move it in the "Output Bin":

3rd Phase: Pickup the burned CD and move it in the CD Printer/Output Bin/Reject area:

After the CD burning procedure the CD tray opens, the robotic arm lowers down, pickups the CD and moves it either to the center (CD printer) or directly in the "Output BIN" or in the reject area (if the CD is bad).

9. Tests of the Composer/Signature III

We have left last the testing results for the Composer/Signature III system. The system is supposed to be able to write/printing up to 50CDs in row without any problem. In order to test this ability we prepared 4 jobs tasks in PrimoCD:

- Task 1 "Data Task": Burning data from the HD. We chose around 400mb from the local HD and created the data task. We set the number of copies to"15" and also selected the option to print. This was done in order to see how the whole system works with many CDs from HD in row.

- Task 2 "CD Copy". We used a non-protected CD and we selected up to 15 copies (with printing).

- Task 3 "AudioCD Task". We used an AudioCD project (made from Mp3 files with CD-Text enabled) and requested 10 copies (with printing).

- Task 4: "Stream Task". We inserted a master disc and we selected ALL the remaining CDs (9) to be copied as the master one.

- Test Results:
The Composer/Signature III system taken around 13hours to complete all tasks. The system burned/printed 49CDs in row without any problem under Windows 2000. The robotic arm picked up/down the CDs in all the desired positions without any problems and the Signature III printed all 49CDs in very good quality.

The only negative is that the first CD is dropped to the empty "Output" bin from 7cm height. This might cause problems to the quality of the produced CD even Primera feels that: "...We have run thousands of discs through Composer and have not seen any problems. We have not heard of any customer problems either. We don't think this is an issue..." The strange here is that the if you try to pick up and then drop a CD manually in the "Output" bin the robotic arm will go all the way down to drop the CD gently.

The system really prints/copies at the same time which means that Primera has done a great job calibrating both machines. Lastly the PrimoCD software was very stable and completed the tests perfectly.

10. Conclusion

Positive (+)

Negative (-)

- Very good/solid structure that can be used in demanding environments
- Includes PleXWriter PX-W1210S SCSI CDR-W driver
- Robotic arm moves with accuracy and without any problems
- Printing is very good when using special printable media
- You can upgrade the burning power of the system with faster SCSI CDR-W drives
- System can be fully controlled from the PC
- You can print/copy at the same time!
- Price is good compared with the competition

- Supports only 50CDs in ROW ;)
- PrimoCD is not the best solution especially for backup protected CDs
- Printer ink levels are not accurate
- Robotic arm drops first CD from high height (7cm)

The Primera Composer/Signature III system is really a great solution for those who need a small CD duplication/authoring factory (with or without printing option). The system combined with the proper software will make things simpler and easier for most users (PrimoCD Pro has it's known weakness) and the only thing you might also consider is another PC since the Composer/Signature III needs always to be attached in the PC.

The Signature III worked fast and with very good printing quality epsecially when combined with the proper printable CDs. There are still some issues with the ink level, which however are solved, in the new Signature IV CD printer. The Composer comes with a highly precision robotic arm that is necessary for all tasks. The included recorder (PleXWriter PX-W1210S) is possible the best (SCSI) 12x writing solution you can get.

The whole price of the system (4500$) sounds quite high but think of what you are getting - a small duplication/printing CD factory! The competition in the CDR Pro area is very hard but the combination of price/performance give's Primera the advantage....

1. Big toys for big boys ;-)