The DVD duplication project requirement
Alan works for a style 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 business spend lots of time and money on exhibitions related with their industry and Alan attends many different shows throughout the year in the UK and abroad. The main activity of the company at these shows may be the promotion of work they have already carried out and projects they are working on. To help make the project information come to life, lots of computer animation, computer generated mock-ups and visual imagery are utilized and, previously, this information 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 latest compilation of project information that Alan has assembled involves some very sophisticated CGI and high definition images. The files are far too large to match onto a CD and he needs to find an alternative form of media that will be accompanied with printed information concerning the building project information and also instructions detailing the utilization of the promotional information.
The CDs are generally compiled by Alan in-house. He prints a label having an inkjet printer and puts the CDs into a plastic wallet. Recently, 書刊 he has noticed that their competitors at the exhibitions are providing their promotional information in top quality cases on discs with the print applied directly. Alan acknowledges that he will most likely require a DVD or a USB thumb drive to store his new information. He also anticipates the need for a large run of units given the popularity they have garnered during the last couple of years and is doubtful that 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 discover a trustworthy, top quality DVD Duplication service provider. He searches under “DVD printing and duplication companies UK” and visits the internet sites of the firms on the initial search page. He selects 5 of the finest sites with good customer feedback that convey a superior quality feel and requests quotes for 1000 printed DVDs from each to observe they respond. The quotes he receives are typical fairly similar but one of many companies follows up the request with your own call from a sales person named Grant. The business that Grant works for is merely a 30 minute drive away so Alan arranges a meeting to talk about 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 many years and his team has lots 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 will undoubtedly be water proof so there’s no danger of damage to the print from moisture. The print can also be quite hard wearing and can 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 fixed catching disc, cost effectively by using a single or 2 colour screen printed design. Alan wants to complement what his competitors at the exhibitions are doing and has had along some types of their DVDs. Grant explains these are litho printed DVDs as the print jobs are derived from complex photographic images incorporating rendered and stylised company logos. Although litho printing a DVD is the absolute most expensive printing route, if the system order number is 500 or more then a fixed costs of printing the discs become merely a small the main unit cost. Grant shows Alan around the printing facility and explains how a litho printing process works; additionally they discuss the details of how to make certain an effective print job. Grant has the following advice:
Use a DVD template to create the look – 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 greatly slightly from supplier to supplier as the template will undoubtedly 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 the very least 3 to 4 mm away from the outer and inner disc borders.
Choosing a suitable photographic image – It is very important to know the way a picture will look when printed. Dark photographs are not recommended unless the actual subject is well lit. Photos should be at the very least 300 dpi in resolution and preferably higher than this, to ensure the result is a good quality, sharp printed image.
Lithographic printing considerations – Litho printing is bad for printing large areas of solid colour as a result of possibility of inconsistency. It is better suited for printing complex images with colour gradients and variations.
The DVD Duplication Process
Grant then takes Alan to the DVD Duplication suite so that he can easily see how their process works. The suite is really a clean room environment with dust extractors running constantly and all personnel are required 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 packed with the info from the first master DVD and this then controls delivery of the info to all other DVD writing optical drives in the suite. The optical drives are like the units within a typical desktop PC which burns the info onto a writable DVD utilizing 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 possibility of damage to the discs through human error or incorrect handling. Also, loading and unloading of countless discs at a time would be too frustrating and laborious to do by hand.
A typical DVD can easily accommodate 4.5 GB of data and you can find dual layer versions available which can take twice that amount of data but these are generally much more expensive than standard DVDs and the duplication process is more expensive because it is additional time consuming.
Packaging the DVDs
Next, Grant and Alan discuss the packaging for the discs. There are many solutions for Alan to choose from, which range from very basic packaging such as for instance plastic or paper wallets, more protective options such as for instance clamshell cases or trigger cases and then packaging types that can accommodate printed paper parts such as for instance polycarbonate jewel cases and polypropylene DVD cases. Alan needs to include a good amount of printed material and doesn’t want the booklet pages to be too small, so he opts for the standard DVD case option which will be the same as that provided by his competitors at the exhibitions. A typical DVD case is moulded from a flexible polypropylene material which will be hard wearing but lightweight. A definite plastic sleeve is bonded to the not in the case allow a published paper cover to be inserted which wraps around the case. Within the case is really a moulded stud which holds the disc securely in place.
Cases can be found that contain up to 4 moulded studs to hold 4 discs or “swing trays” that clip to the inside spine of the case allowing multiple DVDs to be housed within a case. Additionally, there are clips moulded into the inside 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 ought to be only 32 pages as the booklet becomes too thick to match into the case. Cases with thicker spines can be found where they need to accommodate more information.