CD duplication involves burning off standard or special shape CD-R using a laser in standard CD or DVD writer drives. The'R' following the format type stands for'Recordable' (Rather than replicated discs that are known as CD ROM where the'ROM' stands for'Read-Only Memory' as such discs can't be burnt at all and are pressed in the time of manufacture).
This type of production is excellent for smaller print runs of less than 1000 discs, or at which the disks are required very quickly. These disks are typically applied with photo-glossy tags that were printed at a really high excellent laser printer. The laser print procedure is smudge-proof and allows full color printing that is suitable for photos or complex colour gradients.
This type of production is excellent for smaller print runs of less than 1000 discs, or at which the disks are required very quickly. These disks are typically applied with photo-glossy tags that were printed at a really high excellent laser printer. The laser print procedure is smudge-proof and allows full color printing that is suitable for photos or complex colour gradients.
Another benefit of duplicated CDs is that we're able to supply them printed, but clean, for you to burn your content onto in a standard CD-RW or DVD-RW drive. This can be useful when you are sending out individual customer files, or if the information which you need to put on the discs is always changing.
Another principal type of CD and DVD manufacturing is referred to as CD replication and DVD replication and entails pressing the discs from a glass master. This practice is used for higher volume disks, resulting in considerably lower unit costs for larger orders of 1000 disks or more.
Benefits:
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
If you have to make copies of compact disks, what are the most likely keywords you may search? CD duplication or CD replication? To most people these 2 terms probably mean exactly the same. But to the disk copying business there is a subtle difference. It's the point of this article to explain the difference and help you make the choice when to use duplication and when to use replication, no thing you want CD or DVD copies.
What's CD Duplication?
Together with the ever decreasing prices on CD/DVD burners, building a disk copy is now as easy as making a xerox copy before. CD burning or DVD burning is another expression people like to use for this manner of making disc copies.
Unless it is used on your own, a duplicated disc will need to be marked or tagged somehow. You can do that in many ways.
Mark the disk with a Sharpe
This is the quick and dirty means of labeling. As you can imagine, the disc will not be very attractive and attractive.
Publish the artwork onto a die-cut paper tag and attach the label to the disk.
Labels come as glossy and matte. Normally glossy tags are 3 times as expensive then the matte labels. Matte labels are great for laser printers.
Labels come as glossy and matte. Normally glossy tags are 3 times as expensive then the matte labels. Matte labels are great for laser printers.
Once a label is printed, it is possible to peel it off and cup it to some tag applicator with the sticky side facing up. The data side of the disk is then pushed against the applicator. Air bubbles onto the tag need to be rubbed off immediately otherwise they are there eternally. When you print the tags, be sure to coordinate with the paper profile to your printer. For instance, if you're using the Epson printers, then choose the right paper type if you print the labels. Use Plain Paper for matte labels, and utilize Glossy Photo Paper for glossy labels.
One disadvantage of using paper label on CD or DVD is the tag adds to the thickness of the disk. When combining the depth of this CD-R or DVD-R itself with the paper label, the general thickness will probably be thicker then the designed specifications. Even though most disk readers have the ability to re-read when there is mistake, this could definitely reduce the reading reliability. Another drawback, and possibly 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 sound content, try to 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 onto a disk with inkjet printable coating really affordable. Media makers like Ritek, Taiyo Yuden, HP, and Maxell additionally sell inkjet printable media at just a fraction higher than the regular media. 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 disk surface is usually not water and finger print evidence. Business like Primera markets and sells a disc laminator that adds a thin film coating into the printable surface. Once laminated, the disc has a glossy looking and it becomes water and finger printing evidence. Replicator such as New Cyberian can also apply a UV dried lacquer in addition to the surface to provide the glossy feel and look.
Printing the artwork directly onto the disc using thermal transport
Manufactures like Teac, Microboards, Primera, and Rimage market and sell CD printers that use thermal transport. There are two flavors for thermal; white and black, and full-color. The media for thermal also come in two taste; white or silver backdrop. The price on the media is again slightly higher than routine disk. The priciest part is the thermal film and the depreciation on this machine. Your minimal investment on the gear might starts from US$4000 for B/W and US$8000 for a full-color unit. If you don't intend to get a big volume of disc printed differently thermal ought to be prevented.
What's CD replication?
In contrast to duplication, replication is the term used for large volume industrial disk copying. In a disk replication plant, making disk copies goes through the following stages.
Glass master is also known as the father of disk replication. A bit of glass is polished and then small holes are etched onto the glass surface deep into the substrate to represent the 1's of the binary material. The glass master becomes an specific replica of the first master. Considering that a glass master is too fragile to be handled, a metal stamper is made which can sustain the heat and pressure in your injection molding.
Stamper Assessing
As explained earlier, a stamper is actually used in the making of this disk, not the glass master. A stamper is generally made from an aluminum plate. It is the compliment of the glass master meaning all the 1's on the glass master will develop into the 0's and the 0's will end up 1 on the stamper. This male/female connection between the glass master and the stamper creates the stamper the mother of the replication. When a disc is molded from the stamper the data reverse back to the first.
A disk is make by injecting molten polycarbonate on the stamper. The information on the disk will be the compliment of the stamper so they are converted back to the original as the glass master.
Sputtering
The polycarbonate discs following injection molding are all transparent. A reflective mirror coat should cover the disk so that the pits of data can be read when the laser is reflected back to the disc reader. The process of creating the disk reflective is known as sputtering. Sputtering needs the transparent polycarbonate discs to be moved into the sputtering chamber that is then quickly evacuated of air and filled with argon gas. The argon ions are attracted to the aluminum target by the use of a high voltage. As the ions strike the target, particles of aluminum are ejected and are deposited on the CD surface.
Art printing
Before art can be printed that the lacquer can be applied to the disk surface. The lacquer is then UV dried in several seconds. Art is then printed in addition to the transparent lacquer. There are two ways to print the artwork; i.e. silkscreen or offset. Silkscreen printing is good for vector based graphics and offset is good for photo based graphics. If your artwork is designed using Illustrator without any jpg or tiff get cds made file, then the art is the most likely vector based meaning all the art components are represented by regular lines and shapes. Should you use Photoshop to make your design opportunities are the art will be photo established. Offset should be utilized for photograph based artwork. Color matching can only be achieved on vector based images.
To duplicate or to replicate?
So when should we use duplication and when should we use replication? Together with the descriptions above it's going to be so obvious that when time is of nature, you have not alternative but utilize duplication. The unit cost will be higher compared to replication but at least you can be certain the discs you want can be ready in 24-hrs. Another situation you should use copying is when the quantity is small. You likely won't here an expert printer to print 10 or even 100 duplicates unless it is absolutely crucial. By the identical token, when the quantity is little a duplication job will suffice. That leaves the only situation when replication ought to be used; i.e. if you have enough time and the volume is big, say 1,000 or more. Most CD duplication companies including New Cyberian Systems also accept replication in the number of 500. But when you compare the prices for 500 and 1,000, you will notice the difference is actually not that much.