The DVD duplication project requirement
Alan works for a design company who specialise in the whole refurbishment of listed buildings. They provide a task management service arranging and managing all project stages from brickwork to interior design. The organization spend plenty of time and money on exhibitions related for their industry and Alan attends numerous shows throughout every season in the UK and abroad. The key activity of the business at these shows could be the promotion of work they have already carried out and projects that they’re working on. To help make the project information come to life, plenty of computer animation, computer generated mock-ups and visual imagery are utilized and, previously, these records has been compiled onto a CD which is passed out to exhibition visitors who may be interested in their work or in utilising their services. The latest compilation of project information that Alan has come up with involves some very sophisticated CGI and high definition images. The files are far too large to fit onto a CD and he needs to get an alternative solution form of media that will be accompanied with printed information relating to 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 name 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 high quality cases 書刊印刷 on discs with the print applied directly. Alan acknowledges he will probably desire a DVD or perhaps a USB thumb drive to store his new information. He also anticipates the need for a big run of units given the popularity they have garnered during the last few 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, high quality DVD Duplication service provider. He searches under “DVD printing and duplication companies UK” and visits the internet sites of the businesses on the very first search page. He selects 5 of the greatest sites with good customer comments that convey a high 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 one of many companies follows up the request with an individual call from a sales agent named Grant. The organization that Grant works for is only a 30 minute drive away so Alan arranges a meeting to go over 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 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 benefits of printing directly onto the disc surface when compared with printing onto and applying stickers. A screen or litho printed DVD will soon be water proof so there is no risk of injury to the print from moisture. The print can also be quite stong and can just only 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 DVDs since the print jobs are derived from complex photographic images incorporating rendered and stylised company logos. Although litho printing a DVD is probably the most expensive printing route, if the machine order number is 500 or more then your fixed costs of printing the discs become only a small area of the unit cost. Grant shows Alan round the printing facility and explains the way the litho printing process works; additionally they discuss the details of how to make sure a successful print job. Grant has the next advice:
Use a DVD template to create the style – 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 for their particular print process. Ideally, the finished artwork should cover a place about 122mm square should not have 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 the least 3 to 4 mm far from the outer and inner disc borders.
Selecting a suitable photographic image – It is very important to know how a picture will look when printed. Dark photographs are not recommended unless the actual subject is well lit. Photos should be at the least 300 dpi in resolution and preferably more than this, to make sure that the outcome is an excellent quality, sharp printed image.
Lithographic printing considerations – Litho printing is negative for printing large regions of solid colour as a result of prospect of inconsistency. It is way 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 can easily 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 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 central master drive. The master drive is laden up with the information from the first master DVD and this then controls delivery of the information 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 information 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 injury to the discs through human error or incorrect handling. Also, loading and unloading of a huge selection of discs at any given time would be too time intensive and laborious to accomplish by hand.
A standard DVD can easily accommodate 4.5 GB of data and there are dual layer versions available which holds twice that level of data but these tend to be much more expensive than standard DVDs and the duplication process is more expensive since it is more hours consuming.
Packaging the DVDs
Next, Grant and Alan discuss the packaging for the discs. There are lots of options available for Alan to pick from, which range 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 may accommodate printed paper parts such as polycarbonate jewel cases and polypropylene DVD cases. Alan needs to add a good level of printed material and doesn’t want the booklet pages to be too small, so he opts for the typical DVD case option which is just like that made available from his competitors at the exhibitions. A standard DVD case is moulded from a flexible polypropylene material which is stong but lightweight. A clear plastic sleeve is bonded to the not in the case to enable a published paper cover to be inserted which wraps round the case. In the case is a moulded stud which holds the disc securely in place.
Cases can be found that contain around 4 moulded studs to keep 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 should really be only 32 pages since the booklet becomes too thick to fit in to the case. Cases with thicker spines can be found where they have to accommodate more information.