CD duplication involves burning standard or distinctive shape CD-R with a laser in regular CD or DVD writer drives. The'R' after the arrangement type stands for'Recordable' (As opposed to replicated disks which are referred to as CD ROM in which the'ROM' stands for'Read-Only Memory' as these disks cannot be burnt whatsoever and are pressed at the time of fabrication ).
For CD duplication at Wizbit we use autonomous CD duplicators that can process large quantities of CDs of all sizes quickly and efficiently. This sort of production is ideal for smaller print runs of less than 1000 disks, or at which the discs are required very fast. These discs are generally applied with photo-glossy labels which have been published at a very large quality laser printer. The laser printing process is smudge-proof and enables full colour printing that is acceptable for photographs or intricate colour gradients.
Another advantage of replicated CDs is that we can supply them printed, however blank, that you burn your own content onto at a standard CD-RW or DVD-RW drive. This is often helpful if you're sending out individual client files, or when the details that you will need to put on the discs is constantly shifting.
The other main kind of CD and DVD production is known as CD replication and DVD replication and involves pressing the discs out of a glass master. This process is utilized for higher volume discs, resulting in considerably lower unit costs for larger orders of 1000 disks or more.
Advantages:
Full colour printing
Discs can be sterile for you to burn your content onto
Disadvantages:
Greater production costs for production runs of over 1000 discs compared to replicated CDs
The pros and cons of CD duplication vs CD replication (also for DVD duplication and DVD replication)
When you have to make copies of compact disks, what would be the most likely keywords you may search? CD duplication or CD replication? To most people these two terms likely mean exactly the same. However, to the disc copying business there is a subtle difference. It is the point of this article to clarify the gap and help you make the choice when to use copying and when to use replication, no thing you would like CD or DVD copies.
What is CD Duplication?
Together with the ever decreasing prices on CD/DVD burners, making a disk copy is now as convenient as creating a xerox copy before. CD burning or DVD burning is another term folks like to use for this way of earning disc copies.
Unless it is used on your own, a replicated disc will need to be marked or tagged somehow. You can do this in many ways.
Mark the disc with a Sharpe
Here is the quick and dirty way of labeling. As you can imagine, the disk won't be very appealing and presentable.
Print the art on a die-cut paper label and attach the tag to the disk.
Companies making CD labels comprise Avery, Meritline, Neato, Surething, etc.. Labels come as glossy and matte. The glossy tags are perfect for high resolution inkjet printers. Normally glossy tags are 3 times as expensive then the matte labels. Matte labels are good for laser printers.
Companies making CD labels comprise Avery, Meritline, Neato, Surething, etc.. Labels come as glossy and matte. The glossy tags are perfect for high resolution inkjet printers. Normally glossy tags are 3 times as expensive then the matte labels. Matte labels are good for laser printers.
One time a tag is printed, you can peel it off and cup into a label applicator with all the sticky side facing upward. The data side of the disc is then pushed against the applicator. Air bubbles onto the label need to be rubbed off instantly otherwise they are there permanently. When you print the tags, make sure that you coordinate with the paper profile for your printer. For instance, if you're using the Epson printers, choose the ideal paper type if you print the labels. Use Plain Paper for matte labels, and use Glossy Photo Paper for glossy labels.
One disadvantage of using paper tag on CD or DVD is the label adds to the depth of the disk. When Philips designed the CD-R and cd duplication DVD-R they did stipulate the appropriate thickness. When combining the depth of the CD-R or DVD-R itself with the paper tag, the general thickness would probably be thicker then the supposed specifications. Even though most disc readers have the ability to re-read whenever there is mistake, this would definitely reduce the reliability. Another drawback, and probably the most unfavorable one, is that the disk could possibly got stuck in slit load CD or DVD drives such as auto stereo or iMac. If your CD is any audio content, avoid using tag labels.
Printing the artwork directly onto the disc using inkjet printer
This is by far the most preferable way of printing disk label. Epson makes inkjet printers which can print artwork directly on a disk with inkjet printable coating really affordable. The benefits will be the artwork can be printed at very significant resolutions and this eliminates the thickness issue for the paper label. The disadvantages are the method is quite slow and the disc surface is usually not water and finger print evidence. Business such as Primera markets and sells a disc laminator that adds a thin film coating into the inkjet printable surface. Once laminated, the disc has a slick appearing and it becomes water and finger printing proof. Replicator such as New Cyberian can also employ a UV dried lacquer in addition to the inkjet surface to give the glossy feel and appearance.
Manufactures such as Teac, Microboards, Primera, and Rimage market and market CD printers which use thermal transport. The media for thermal also arrive in two taste; white or silver background. The price on the media is slightly higher than routine disk. The most costly part is the thermal film as well as the depreciation on this machine. Your minimal investment on the equipment might starts from US$4000 for both B/W and US$8000 to get a full-color unit. If you don't intend to have a big volume of disk printed differently thermal ought to be avoided.
What is CD replication?
In contrast to copying, replication is the expression used for large volume industrial disk copying. In a disc replication plant, making disc copies goes through the following phases.
Glass master is also known as the father of disc replication. A piece of glass is polished and then small holes are etched on the glass surface deep into the substrate to represent the 1 of the binary material. The glass master becomes an exact replica of the original master.
Stamper mastering
As described earlier, a stamper is actually utilized at the making of this disk, not the glass master. A stamper is usually made out of an aluminum plate. It's the compliment of the glass master meaning each of the 1 on the glass master will soon develop into the 0's and the 0's will become 1's on the stamper. This male/female relationship between the glass master and the stamper makes the stamper the mother of this replication. When a disk is molded from the stamper the information reverse again to the first.
A disc is make by injecting molten polycarbonate onto the stamper. The data on the disc will be the compliment of the stamper in order that they are converted back into the first since the glass master.
Sputtering
The polycarbonate discs following injection molding are all transparent. A reflective mirror coating needs to cover up the disc so the pits of data can be read while the laser is reflected back into the disk reader. The practice of creating the disk reflective is known as sputtering. Sputtering requires the transparent polycarbonate discs to be transferred to the sputtering chamber which is then quickly evacuated of air and filled with argon gas. The argon ions are attracted to the aluminum target by using a high voltage. Since the ions hit the goal, particles of aluminum have been ejected and are hauled on the CD surface.
Art printing
Before art can be printed that the lacquer is applied to the disc surface. The lacquer is then UV dried in few seconds. Artwork is then printed on top of the transparent lacquer. There are two ways to print the artwork; i.e. silkscreen or offset. Silkscreen printing is fantastic for vector based images and cancel is very good for picture based images. If your art is designed using Illustrator without importing any jpg or tiff file, then the artwork is most likely vector based meaning all the artwork elements are represented by regular shapes and lines. If you use Photoshop to make your design chances are the artwork will be photo based. Offset should be used for photo based artwork. Color matching can only be done on vector based graphics.
To duplicate or to replicate?
So when should we utilize duplication and when should we use replication? Together with the descriptions above it's going to be so evident that when time is of nature, you haven't alternative but utilize duplication. The unit price will be higher compared to replication but you can make certain the discs you want can be ready in 24-hrs. Another situation you should use duplication is when the volume is small. You probably won't here a professional printer to print 10 or even 100 copies unless it's absolutely necessary. By the same token, when the volume is small a duplication job will suffice. That leaves the only situation when replication should be used; i.e. when you have enough time and the volume is big, say 1,000 or more. Many CD duplication companies such as New Cyberian Systems also accept replication at the quantity of 500. But when you compare the costs for 500 and 1,000, you'll observe the difference is actually not that far.