CD and DVD replication is a process that works by creating discs from scratch. Not to be confused with duplication (the act of burning information onto readymade, commercially-available blank CD-Rs and DVD-Rs), replication relies on the use of molds to produce actual discs that already contain digital data. It is the preferred and recommended mode of mass production for quantities in excess of 500 units.
Replication begins with a painstaking process called glass mastering. In this step, a laser is used to copy data onto a light-reactive glass plate. The plate's photosensitive glaze reacts to the heat of the laser, thus etching several gigabytes worth of digital information for permanent storage.
The data encoded on the glass master comes in binary form, a series of 1s and 0s. While these 1s and 0s may seem like gobbledygook to the average human, it is the language that CD and DVD players understand. Once scored onto the plate via laser, binary information appears as very tiny depressions of varying depths, similar to the grooves on a vinyl record.
Since a glass master cannot be altered once it is completed, great care must be taken when preparing one. As a quality control measure, it has to be made in a clean room environment. Any defects or impurities on the glass master will definitely compromise the integrity and playability of the final CDs or DVDs.
A glass master is considered too delicate to be used for heavy-duty and large-scale disc production. Instead, it is used to create several sturdier, more durable metal molds called stampers. In a process known as stamping or pressing, each stamper is injected with a transparent plastic substance called polycarbonate. The excess plastic is then removed, leaving an exact impression of the mold.
To make the polycarbonate disc suitable for playing, it is then finished with a coat of reflective material. Once the replication process is completed, the disc is finally ready for labeling and packaging.
Replication is considered to be superior to disc duplication. As such, it is regarded as the industry standard. This is because it offers greater consistency in production quality and disc playability than the burning process. In a sense, burning may be likened to photocopying while replication may be likened to cloning. Replicated discs are exact and faithful reproductions of their glass masters; duplicated discs, on the other hand, may differ from their source depending on the quality of the blank media used.
However, due to the complicated and tedious nature of CD and DVD replication, its turn-around or completion time is considerably longer than that of duplication. Depending on the number of copies, discs may be duplicated within a matter of minutes. In contrast, a batch of discs can take two to four weeks to replicate.
Replication is also best left to the experts. Owing to the need for clean rooms and special equipment, the startup expense and preparation can be costlier as well as resource-intensive. But in the long run, replication yields a lower per-unit-cost than disc burning.
For more information ond DVD duplication services, please visit http://www.easydvdburning.com/dvdduplication/index.html
Jasmine Ong is based in the Phillipines, she is a leading technology and software reviewer and has previously had articles published in Businessworld and other periodicals. She currently writes for http://www.easydvdburning.com, the best DVD software resource on the web.
shuttle to Midway Beardstown .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareIn this small article we will be looking at the... Read More
#5 All your hardware components like Printers, PCs etc come... Read More
Fleet Maintenance Management is a critical position in any company... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains fits to majority of horizontals and retail... Read More
It is possible that if one avoided all sources of... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains - Microsoft Business Solutions accounting and ERP... Read More
After seeing many people complain about their weak Internet security... Read More
We would like first emphasize the change in the paradigm.... Read More
If you are in a business that passes documents around... Read More
Well, even if the combination might look very unusual, we... Read More
Microsoft CRM is CRM application, maintained and supported by Microsoft... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains serves to the wide spectrum... Read More
Need software to record your voice, streaming audio or musical... Read More
Just when you thought you were Web savvy, one more... Read More
Think of this, first we had the HAM Radio, then... Read More
If you are in the market for new staffing software,... Read More
We'll give you non formal view, based on our consulting... Read More
In a previous article, I wrote about OpenOffice... Read More
The US House of Representatives has recently passed the "Spy... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very generic accounting application... Read More
We would like to give you pluses and minuses of... Read More
If you copy something from a Web site or elsewhere...... Read More
When you need a phone number, you do a quick... Read More
Cyberspace has opened up a new frontier with exciting possibilities... Read More
Looking at all the ads which promise to get rid... Read More
Green Bay Hummer H2 SUV rentals ..The COSMIC FP (function point) software quality metric, is no... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions ? Great Plains has captured the US... Read More
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy and processes used... Read More
The most important things you can do for your computer... Read More
Music downloads are off the charts! We're listening to digital... Read More
An integral part of any quality CRM system is lead... Read More
Whether you have used Microsoft Word for years, have just... Read More
Accounts payable is just one area of office management where... Read More
When you first think about multicurrency ? you probably have... Read More
The purpose of one of our projects was MS Exchange... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics, eEnterprise has... Read More
C/SIDE (Client/Server Integrated Development Environment) - The core of... Read More
The term "document management" and "paperless office" is the subject... Read More
Great Plains Inventory Management (IV) module gives your business a... Read More
Spyware, what it is and what it does. Basically, spyware... Read More
Programming Help for BeginnersWe write programs to instruct computers. When... Read More
One day, you suddenly realize that your computer started to... Read More
C++ Function templates are those functions which can handle different... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very popular ERP platform... Read More
This article is the first of a series of articles... Read More
Once upon a time not so long ago, there was... Read More
As seeing large number of implementations ? in our case... Read More
If you've been using MySQL database to store your important... Read More
The first thing that you will notice about Linux Red... Read More
While paper labeling CDs and DVDs may appear to be... Read More
Software |