Is CD duplication is a reliable process??

[abrahamflower]

Last week my daughter participated in a Dancing competition and came first in it….And I was the only one from the family who saw it live ……..The school gave a CD of the dance competition to all the participants. Now I am planning to get that CD duplicated. I would need probably 20 to 25 duplicated CDs and I am thinking of distributing it amongst all my relatives and friends.


I don’t want to compromise in terms of quality at all. So I want to know whether I should go for duplication of CDs or replication. I heard replication ensures better quality. Kindly suggest what should I do…….

[LeeU]

A copy would probably work just fine, as long as they are all made from your copy. You might ask the school if they did copying or replication. Usually, replication involves a large amount of copies.

[Mr. E. Cryptic]

replication refers to actual moulded CD's. As a glass master is needed for this process, minimum quantities are usually no lower than 500 units.

If you're only looking for a small quantity, duplication (optical disc-authoring / burning) is your only choice, if done at home or with a duplication company the difference in quality would be minimal (assuming you have a decent CD writer).

Also keep in mind that any type of disc graphic will have it's draw backs:

minumum quantities for screen printing are usually tied to those of replication.

CD Lables can (although, usually don't) produce read-errors.

Inkjet Prints are prone to scratching, and, depending on the quality of printer and disc-face, can also be easily wiped from the disc-face by wetting.

Thermal Prints are generally low in quality and limited to between one and four colour prints (process colour not possible). Also, as large areas of solid colour can damage thermal printers, most companies will limit designs to text and small logos only.

If you're writing anything other than a data disc (Eg: audio CD or DVD) keep burn speeds below 16x as this will reduce the amount of segment errors in the burning process.

[adolfo.live]

Let me clear here What is DVD / CD duplication vs. DVD / CD replication, which can be helpful to you.
Duplication is ideal for low volume whereas Replication is most suited for high volume runs of 1000 units and more

• DVD / CD duplication is similar to "burning" DVD – Rs* / CD-Rs* on a computer with a CD / DVD recorder. You must have a DVD recorder drive and software to duplicate DVDs. DVD / CD Duplication is used for Low volume orders up to 1000 units
*Rs- recordables

• DVD / CD replication is a manufacturing process of creating a glass master, is created from the customer's supplied media and used to press the digital information to make the DVD/CD replicas. DVD replication or CD replication is used for higher volume orders of at least 1000 units. DVD replicated discs can play in virtually all players and in all PCs with a DVD-ROM drive and player software.

Good luck.:)

[drhart4000]

You will not loose any quality by duplicating, that is if you duplicated it without recompressing, such as making an iso file and then burning that iso file however many times you need. If you do not wish to do this yourself you can pay for a cd duplication service, but they basically just do the same thing, the only difference is they will probably have dedicated equipment to duplicating dvd's and cd's.

[LeeU]

Actually, you will lose a bit, but probably not enough to notice. Duplication is just another word for copy. When you copy something, it loses a bit of the original, albeit a small amount. It's only by replication that you can get an exact copy, without any loss.

[burnsmart]

Since you are only having 20 - 25 discs produced, you're only option would be duplication. Most replication companies will require a minimum quantity for replication (for most companies it will be 1,000 pcs although there are a few that will do as low as 300). Quality of the duplicated discs should be good as long as the master disc doesn't have errors. Most CD duplicators offer high quality printing for short-run duplication.

[mcortez62]

I just want to put out there for everyone that with technology prices being so reasonably affordable these days, why not do the dvd duplication (http://www.vinpowerdigital.com/) yourself? I've looked into it myself & found depending on the amount of duplication your going to be doing, it may be a good choice. Marie

[ksearch]

The only reason I used cd duplication (http://www.newcyberian.com) was because of low quantity and short lead-time. But now I've found a company called New Cyberian that can do small quantity replication in 5 days. Yes! Replication, not duplication. For the price of $320 they will replicate the CD for you with full-color offset printing. The CDs look as professional as the big runs, all pressed from stamper/glass master. Check them out, http://www.newcyberian.com

[chrissykru]

why not try getting in touch with the professionals at http://www.sfvideo.com (http://www.sfvideo.com/?utm_source=webdeveloper&utm_medium=pv&utm_campaign=home). they will steer you in the right direction

[DeltaJuno]

Just to give you some info, somebody above mentioned you lose quality when you copy. This is not true, as it's a digital copy, ie, only copying binary code, so there is no reduction in quality.

As correctly mentioned, if you are having 25-30 units made, then duplication is your only realistic option.

I dunno if it has been mentioned, however, when CD burners first came onto the scene, a lot of audio CDs made via duplication would not play in CD players and car systems. And replication was the only option to ensure full playability.

However, with newer players these issues have been ironed out, and you may only find an issue with duplication if someone is trying to play the CD in a 15 year old CD player.

For some more info on the replication and duplication processes and benefits see the links below:

CD Duplication info (http://www.discwizards.com/cd-duplication.htm)

More duplication info (http://www.dvd-cd-duplication-replication.com/cd-duplication.htm)

CD replication info (http://www.discwizards.com/cd-replication.htm)

More CD replication info (http://www.dvd-cd-duplication-replication.com/replication.htm)

Hope this helps.

[JunkMale]

Do they have email? The friends and relatives?

If so, or even if a few have, rip the CD into a compressed AVI or simial that is best quality for size. I recently turned a 16:9 version copy of a film from DVD to an Ogg Video file which I was experimenting with and found that it ended up with a 636MB file for a 2 hour feature...! Which by any standard of compression is great seeing as the quality was crisp and still 5.1 sound! Mega.

Well, my point. Upload to one of the milliions of file / video transfer sites, email them a link so they can watch it on their computers.

That way your not using or wasting resources, does your bit for global warming and the enviroment will thank you for it.

Does that work for you?

[Odis]

Actually, more and more customers are getting confused with the difference of duplication and replication. In the CD duplication process, a master disc is used to burn or transfer the data on to blank recordable discs of high quality. While in the replication process, a glass master of the original CD is created and then used to stamp out replicas from poly-carbonite. It's really up to you on what you would want to use.

CD Duplication (http://www.directcds.co.uk/CD-Catagory/CD-Duplication-Services)