The DVD duplication project requirement
Alan works for a design company who specialise in the whole refurbishment of listed buildings. They offer a project management service arranging and managing all project stages from brickwork to interior design. The company spend a lot of time and money on exhibitions related with their industry and Alan attends a variety of shows throughout every season in the UK and abroad. The main activity of the company at these shows is the promotion of work that they have already carried out and projects that they are working on. To really make the project information come to life, a lot of computer animation, computer generated mock-ups and visual imagery are utilized and, previously, these records has been compiled onto a CD that will be given out to exhibition visitors who may be interested in their work or in utilising their services. The most recent compilation of project information that Alan has put together involves some very sophisticated CGI and high res images. The files are far too big to suit onto a CD and he needs to get an alternative form of media which is accompanied with printed information relating to the building project information and also instructions detailing the usage of the promotional information.
The CDs are often compiled by Alan in-house. He prints a label utilizing an inkjet printer and puts the CDs right into a plastic wallet. Recently, he has pointed out that their competitors at the exhibitions are providing their promotional information in good quality cases on discs with the print applied directly. Alan acknowledges he will probably need a DVD or even a USB thumb drive to store his new information. He also anticipates the requirement for a big run of units given the popularity they’ve garnered over the past couple of years and is doubtful he has enough time or necessary resources to manage to reproduce the discs and printed information himself.
Sourcing a Reputable and Reliable DVD Duplication Company
Alan begins some internet research to locate a trustworthy, good quality DVD Duplication service provider. He searches under “DVD printing and duplication companies UK” and visits web sites of the firms on the very first search page. He selects 5 of the finest sites with good customer comments that convey a top quality feel and requests quotes for 1000 printed DVDs from each to see how they respond. The quotes he receives are all fairly similar but among the companies follows up the request with your own call from the sales agent named Grant. The company that Grant works for is merely a 30 minute drive away so Alan arranges a meeting to discuss the existing project requirements and a possible future contract.
A Meeting to Discuss The Project
Two days later Alan meets Grant at his company’s offices and manufacturing unit to go through the options for the project. Grant’s company has been operating for quite some time and his team has a lot of experience with screen printing, lithographic (litho) printing and duplication of DVDs and CDs. He explains the benefits of printing directly onto the disc surface when compared with printing onto and applying stickers. A display or litho printed DVD will soon be water proof so there is no danger of damage to the print from moisture. The print can also be quite stong and can only just be damaged through extremely rough handling of the disc or hard experience of abrasive surfaces. It can also be possible to create an eye catching disc, cost effectively by using a single or 2 colour screen printed design. Alan wants to match what his competitors at the exhibitions are doing and has brought along some examples of their DVDs. Grant explains that these are litho printed 印書 DVDs since the print jobs are based on complex photographic images incorporating rendered and stylised company logos. Although litho printing a DVD is the absolute most expensive printing route, if the machine order number is 500 or even more then your fixed costs of printing the discs become merely a small the main unit cost. Grant shows Alan across the printing facility and explains how the litho printing process works; additionally they discuss the details of how to make sure an effective print job. Grant has the following advice:
Work with a DVD template to create the design – Your chosen DVD printing partner should manage to supply you with a template showing the outer and inner borders for the print, these can vary slightly from supplier to supplier since the template will soon be tailored with their particular print process. Ideally, the finished artwork should cover an area about 122mm square should not need the central disc hole removed though it is important to be conscious that the hole will exist on the finished unit and so no pertinent information should encroach upon this area. As a principle, any text must be kept at the very least 3 to 4 mm away from the outer and inner disc borders.
Selecting a suitable photographic image – It is important to understand how a graphic can look when printed. Dark photographs aren’t recommended unless the particular subject is well lit. Photos will have to be at the very least 300 dpi in resolution and preferably higher than this, to ensure the end result is a good quality, sharp printed image.
Lithographic printing considerations – Litho printing is negative for printing large aspects of solid colour as a result of potential for inconsistency. It is much better suited to printing complex images with colour gradients and variations.
The DVD Duplication Process
Grant then takes Alan to the DVD Duplication suite so he could see how their process works. The suite is a clean room environment with dust extractors running constantly and all personnel are expected to wear clean lab coats and hats whilst working there. The method is fully automated with only the initial delivery of printed DVDs on spindles being handled manually. The duplication is carried out using many duplication towers linked together and controlled by a central master drive. The master drive is laden with the data from the original master DVD and this then controls delivery of the data to any or all other DVD writing optical drives in the suite. The optical drives are just like the units within a regular desktop PC which burns the data onto a writable DVD using a laser diode.
Loading and unloading of the optical drives is performed automatically using robot arms which handle the discs using a vacuum cup system. This removes the potential for damage to the discs through human error or incorrect handling. Also, loading and unloading of countless discs at a time could be too time consuming and laborious to complete by hand.
A regular DVD can easily accommodate 4.5 GB of data and you can find dual layer versions available which can take twice that level of data but these tend to be much higher priced than standard DVDs and the duplication process is higher priced because it is additional time consuming.
Packaging the DVDs
Next, Grant and Alan discuss the packaging for the discs. There are numerous options available for Alan to select from, which range from very basic packaging such as for example plastic or paper wallets, more protective options such as for example clamshell cases or trigger cases and then packaging types that may accommodate printed paper parts such as for example polycarbonate jewel cases and polypropylene DVD cases. Alan needs to incorporate a reasonable level of printed material and doesn’t want the booklet pages to be too small, so he opts for the standard DVD case option that will be exactly like that made available from his competitors at the exhibitions. A regular DVD case is moulded from the flexible polypropylene material that will be stong but lightweight. A clear plastic sleeve is bonded to the outside of the case to enable a printed paper cover to be inserted which wraps across the case. Inside the case is a moulded stud which holds the disc securely in place.
Cases are available that have up to 4 moulded studs to put up 4 discs or “swing trays” that clip to the within spine of the case allowing multiple DVDs to be housed in a single case. Additionally, there are clips moulded into the within left-hand side of the case which hold any printed information in place. The printed booklet can contain up to 16 pages if the spine is stapled but more if the spine is glued. Generally, a regular case booklet must certanly be no more than 32 pages since the booklet becomes too thick to suit to the case. Cases with thicker spines are available where they have to accommodate more information.