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 plenty of time and money on exhibitions related with their industry and Alan attends numerous shows throughout the year in the UK and abroad. The main activity of the company at these shows is the promotion of work they’ve already carried out and projects that they are working on. To help 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 which will be handed out to exhibition visitors who may be interested in their work or in utilising their services. The newest compilation of project information that Alan has assembled involves some very sophisticated CGI and high resolution images. The files are far too large to match onto a CD and he needs to get an alternative kind of media which is accompanied with printed information associated with the building project information and also instructions detailing the utilization of the promotional information.
The CDs usually are compiled by Alan in-house. He prints a brand having an inkjet printer and puts the CDs in to a plastic wallet. Recently, he’s noticed that their competitors at the exhibitions are providing their promotional information in good quality 宣傳單張印刷 cases on discs with the print applied directly. Alan acknowledges he will most likely desire a DVD or perhaps a USB thumb drive to store his new information. He also anticipates the necessity for a big run of units given the popularity they have garnered over the past couple of years and is doubtful he has the full time or necessary resources to be able 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 companies on the very first search page. He selects 5 of the greatest sites with good customer comments 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 fairly similar but among the companies follows up the request with an individual call from a sales person named Grant. The company that Grant works for is just a 30 minute drive away so Alan arranges a meeting to go over the present 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 quite some time and his team has plenty 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 screen or litho printed DVD is likely to be water proof so there’s no threat of damage to the print from moisture. The print is also quite stong 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 fixed 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 taken along some types of their DVDs. Grant explains why these are litho printed DVDs since 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 unit order number is 500 or maybe more then a fixed costs of printing the discs become just a small area of the unit cost. Grant shows Alan around the printing facility and explains the way the litho printing process works; in addition they discuss the details of how to ensure an effective print job. Grant has these advice:
Make use of a DVD template to produce the style – Your chosen DVD printing partner should be able to supply you with a template showing the outer and inner borders for the print, these may vary slightly from supplier to supplier since the template is likely to 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 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 principle, any text must be kept at least 3 to 4 mm far from the outer and inner disc borders.
Choosing a suitable photographic image – It is very important to know how a graphic will appear when printed. Dark photographs are not recommended unless the particular subject is well lit. Photos will have to be at least 300 dpi in resolution and preferably more than this, to make sure that the result is a good quality, sharp printed image.
Lithographic printing considerations – Litho printing is bad for printing large areas of solid colour because of the potential for inconsistency. It is much 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 can easily see how their process works. The suite is just 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 process is fully automated with only the original 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 loaded with the data from the initial 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 similar to the units found 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 conducted automatically using robot arms which handle the discs with a vacuum cup system. This removes the potential for damage to the discs through human error or incorrect handling. Also, loading and unloading of a huge selection of discs at a time would be too time intensive and laborious to do by hand.
A typical DVD can very quickly accommodate 4.5 GB of data and there are dual layer versions available which can hold twice that quantity of data but these are generally much higher priced than standard DVDs and the duplication process is higher priced as it is more hours consuming.
Packaging the DVDs
Next, Grant and Alan discuss the packaging for the discs. There are many possibilities for Alan to choose 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 fair quantity of printed material and doesn’t want the booklet pages to be too small, so he opts for the conventional DVD case option which will be just like that provided by his competitors at the exhibitions. A typical DVD case is moulded from a flexible polypropylene material which will be stong but lightweight. A clear plastic sleeve is bonded to the outside the case allow a printed paper cover to be inserted which wraps around the case. In the case is just a moulded stud which holds the disc securely in place.
Cases can be found that have up to 4 moulded studs to put on 4 discs or “swing trays” that clip to the within spine of the case allowing multiple DVDs to be housed in a single case. There are also 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 typical case booklet should really be no more than 32 pages since the booklet becomes too thick to match to the case. Cases with thicker spines can be found where they should accommodate more information.