The DVD duplication project requirement
Alan works for a design company who specialise in the whole refurbishment of listed buildings. They provide a project management service arranging and managing all project stages from brickwork to interior design. The company spend plenty of time and money on exhibitions related to their industry and Alan attends numerous shows throughout the year in the UK and abroad. The main activity of the organization at these shows may be the promotion of work that they have already carried out and projects that they are working on. To make the project information come alive, plenty of computer animation, computer generated mock-ups and visual imagery are used and, previously, these records has been compiled onto a CD that is handed out to exhibition visitors who may be thinking about their work or in utilising their services. The newest 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 match onto a CD and he needs to get an alternative type of media which is accompanied with printed information associated with 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 name utilizing an inkjet printer and puts the CDs in to a plastic wallet. Recently, he’s realized that their competitors at the exhibitions are providing their promotional information in top quality cases on discs with the print applied directly. Alan acknowledges he will likely desire a DVD or perhaps a USB flash drive to store his new information. He also anticipates the need for a large run of units given the popularity they have garnered over the last couple of years and is doubtful he has the full 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 find a trustworthy, top quality DVD Duplication service provider. He searches under “DVD printing and duplication companies UK” and visits the websites of the firms on the very first search page. He selects 5 of the finest sites with good customer feedback that convey a top quality feel and requests quotes for 1000 printed DVDs from each to observe how they respond. The quotes he receives are typical fairly similar but among the companies follows up the request with an individual call from a sales agent named Grant. The company that Grant works for is just a 30 minute drive away so Alan arranges a meeting to discuss the current 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 look at the alternatives for the project. Grant’s company has been operating for several years and his team has plenty of experience with screen printing, lithographic (litho) printing and duplication of DVDs and CDs. He explains the advantages of printing directly onto the disc surface in comparison to printing onto and applying stickers. A screen or litho printed DVD is likely to be water proof so there’s no danger of harm to the print from moisture. The print is also quite hard wearing and can only just be damaged through extremely rough handling of the disc or hard experience of abrasive surfaces. It is also possible to produce an eye catching disc, cost effectively using a single or 2 colour screen printed design. Alan wants to complement what his competitors at the exhibitions are doing and has brought along some types of their DVDs. Grant explains that these are litho printed DVDs as the print jobs derive from complex photographic images incorporating rendered and stylised company logos. Although litho printing a DVD is the most expensive printing route, if the system order number is 500 or maybe more then your fixed costs of printing the discs become just a small area of the unit cost. Grant shows Alan across the printing facility and explains how the litho printing process works; additionally they discuss the important points of how to make certain a fruitful print job. Grant has the next advice:
Use a DVD template to produce 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 as the template is likely to be tailored to their particular print process. Ideally, the finished artwork should cover a location about 122mm square should not have the central disc hole removed although it is very 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 guideline, any text needs to be kept at the least 3 to 4 mm from the outer and inner disc borders.
Picking a suitable photographic image – It is very important to know the way an image can look when printed. Dark photographs aren’t 宣傳單張 recommended unless the particular subject is well lit. Photos will need to be at the least 300 dpi in resolution and preferably more than this, to make sure that the outcome is a good quality, sharp printed image.
Lithographic printing considerations – Litho printing is not good for printing large aspects of solid colour because of the prospect of inconsistency. It is better fitted 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 really a clean room environment with dust extractors running constantly and all personnel are needed 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 main master drive. The master drive is packed with the data from the initial master DVD and this then controls delivery of the data to all or any other DVD writing optical drives in the suite. The optical drives are like the units present in a typical 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 prospect of harm to the discs through human error or incorrect handling. Also, loading and unloading of countless discs at the same time will be too frustrating and laborious to accomplish by hand.
A regular DVD can simply accommodate 4.5 GB of data and you will find dual layer versions available which can take twice that number of data but these are generally much higher priced than standard DVDs and the duplication process is higher priced because it is more time consuming.
Packaging the DVDs
Next, Grant and Alan discuss the packaging for the discs. There are numerous options available for Alan to choose from, ranging from very basic packaging such as plastic or paper wallets, more protective options such as clamshell cases or trigger cases and then packaging types that could accommodate printed paper parts such as polycarbonate jewel cases and polypropylene DVD cases. Alan needs to incorporate a good number of printed material and doesn’t want the booklet pages to be too small, so he opts for the standard DVD case option that is the same as that made available from his competitors at the exhibitions. A regular DVD case is moulded from a flexible polypropylene material that is hard wearing but lightweight. A clear plastic sleeve is bonded to the outside the case to enable a printed paper cover to be inserted which wraps across the case. Within the case is really a moulded stud which holds the disc securely in place.
Cases are available that have around 4 moulded studs to put on 4 discs or “swing trays” that clip to the interior spine of the case allowing multiple DVDs to be housed in one case. Additionally, there are clips moulded into the interior left-hand side of the case which hold any printed information in place. The printed booklet can contain around 16 pages if the spine is stapled but more if the spine is glued. Generally, a typical case booklet must certanly be only 32 pages as the booklet becomes too thick to match in to the case. Cases with thicker spines are available where they have to accommodate more information.