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Four key topics for any company or individual seeking disc duplication
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The difference between disc duplication and replication:
Disc replication, also referred to as “pressed” discs start with a minimum qty of 1000 units per title, the reason being is because a qty of 1000 units in necessary to justify the silk screen printing process, the mastering process know as a glass master, and set up costs. With replication the data is actually “stamped” into an injection molded DVD or CD. With disc replication since your data is pressed into the construction of the disc and not added in later, the per disc unit price is lower and less expensive than disc duplication. Now, if you only needed a relatively smaller qty of DVD’s or CD’s than duplication would be the better option for you. Duplication is the process where discs are “burned” in a DVD/CD recordable drives, more often onto pre-manufactured DVD-R or CD-R discs. The duplication process can take just a matter of minutes depending on both the “burn” speed of your DVD/CD recording drive and the file size of the data being recorded. It is more economical to reproduce a smaller qty of discs using the duplication method vs. replication because my by comparison the setup costs are minimal and the turn around time for duplication is a lot less as well.
How Complicated is it to replicate DVD’s/CD’s?
It is not difficult at al to replicate disc media but you have to understand that it is a process and does take some time. As an industry standard the general turn time for discs to be replicated and ready to ship back to the customer is anywhere from 7-10 business days, depending on if the replication plants have received all packaging, proof approvals, etc. that may go along with that particular title. Another important thing with replication is that during the fall season (September – December) the plants are usually more booked to capacity than normal and turn times can be as much as 15 business days or more. Here is replication process once a master has been received: making of the glass master, pressing of the discs, making of the silk screen film for the print on the disc, printing on the disc, printing of any custom packaging items like sleeves, inserts, wallets, etc.
What do I need to know about duplication overseas?
As far as DVD multimedia overseas goes, discs can be duplicated anywhere but you may not be able to play them anywhere, here is how that works. Generally when you create or “author” a DVD you have the option of assigning “Region Codes” to your disc before you finalize the authoring process. What this does is allows you to either view a DVD or eliminates you from viewing a DVD overseas. This is mainly done in the entertainment industry, a feature film that you purchase here in the USA will not be able to be viewed in England or Italy since the release dates for feature films across the world is not the same in each country. For example, a film title that comes out on video in November here may not be released in actual theatres until January in Japan. Here is a list of region codes and what areas they cover:
REGION 1 -- USA, Canada
REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland
REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia
REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)
REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa
REGION 6 -- China
REGION 7 -- Reserved for Unspecified Special Use
REGION 8 -- Reserved for Cruise Ships, Airlines, etc...
REGION 0 or REGION ALL -- Discs are non-coded and can be played Worldwide.
As far as music CD’s go the recording industry has pretty much standardized all of its material so recordings manufactured anywhere in the world can be played in other countries.
By Kenneth Beckles
Beckles & Associates
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