The DVD duplication project requirement
Alan works for a design company who specialise in the complete refurbishment of listed buildings. They provide a task management service arranging and managing all project stages from brickwork to interior design. The business spend plenty of time and money on exhibitions related for their industry and Alan attends many different shows throughout the year in the UK and abroad. The key activity of the organization at these shows is the promotion of work that they have already carried out and projects that they are working on. To help make the project information come your, plenty of computer animation, computer generated mock-ups and visual imagery are used and, previously, this information has been compiled onto a CD that is passed out to exhibition visitors who may be thinking about their work or in utilising their services. The most recent compilation of project information that Alan has assembled involves some very sophisticated CGI and high res images. The files are far too big to fit onto a CD and he needs to find an alternate form of media which will be accompanied with printed information concerning the building project information and also instructions detailing the usage of the promotional information.
The CDs are generally compiled by Alan in-house. He prints a tag utilizing an inkjet printer and puts the CDs into a plastic wallet. Recently, he’s realized that their competitors at the exhibitions are providing their promotional information in top quality cases on discs with the print applied directly. Alan acknowledges he will probably desire a DVD or even a USB thumb drive to store his new information. He also anticipates the necessity for a sizable run of units given the popularity they’ve garnered during the last couple of years and is doubtful he has the time or necessary resources to be able to reproduce the discs and printed information himself.
Sourcing a Reputable and Reliable DVD Duplication Company
Alan begins some internet research to find a trustworthy, top quality DVD Duplication service provider. He searches under “DVD printing and duplication companies UK” and visits those sites of the firms on the very first 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 see how they respond. The quotes he receives are fairly similar but one of many companies follows up the request with a personal call from the sales agent named Grant. The business that Grant works for is just 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 go through the choices for the project. Grant’s company has been operating for quite some time 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 in comparison to printing onto and applying stickers. A display or litho printed DVD will undoubtedly be water proof so there’s 宣傳單張設計 no threat of injury to the print from moisture. The print can also be quite strong 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 produce a watch 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 had along some examples of their DVDs. Grant explains why these are litho printed DVDs whilst the print jobs derive from complex photographic images incorporating rendered and stylised company logos. Although litho printing a DVD is the absolute most expensive printing route, if the machine order number is 500 or maybe more then your fixed costs of printing the discs become just a small the main unit cost. Grant shows Alan across the printing facility and explains the way the litho printing process works; in addition they discuss the facts of how to make certain an effective print job. Grant has these advice:
Make use of a DVD template to produce the design – Your chosen DVD printing partner should be able to supply you with a template showing the outer and inner borders for the print, these can vary slightly from supplier to supplier whilst the template will undoubtedly be tailored for their particular print process. Ideally, the finished artwork should cover a location about 122mm square should not need the central disc hole removed though it is 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 rule of thumb, any text must be kept at the least 3 to 4 mm away from the outer and inner disc borders.
Choosing a suitable photographic image – It is important to know the way a graphic can look when printed. Dark photographs are not recommended unless the actual subject is well lit. Photos will need to be at the least 300 dpi in resolution and preferably more than this, to make sure that the result is a good quality, sharp printed image.
Lithographic printing considerations – Litho printing is bad for printing large aspects 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 he can see how their process works. The suite is just a clean room environment with dust extractors running constantly and all personnel are needed to wear clean lab coats and hats whilst working there. The method 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 loaded with the information from the initial master DVD and this then controls delivery of the information to all other DVD writing optical drives in the suite. The optical drives are similar to the units found in a standard 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 via a vacuum cup system. This removes the possibility of injury to the discs through human error or incorrect handling. Also, loading and unloading of countless discs at the same time would be too time intensive and laborious to complete by hand.
A typical DVD can very quickly accommodate 4.5 GB of data and you can find dual layer versions available which can hold twice that number of data but these are generally much more costly than standard DVDs and the duplication process is more costly since it is additional time consuming.
Packaging the DVDs
Next, Grant and Alan discuss the packaging for the discs. There are lots of solutions for Alan to pick from, including 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 incorporate a reasonable number of printed material and doesn’t want the booklet pages to be too small, so he opts for the standard DVD case option that is exactly like that provided by his competitors at the exhibitions. A typical DVD case is moulded from the flexible polypropylene material that is strong but lightweight. A clear plastic sleeve is bonded to the not in the case allow a published paper cover to be inserted which wraps across the case. Inside the case is just a moulded stud which holds the disc securely in place.
Cases can be found that contain around 4 moulded studs to put up 4 discs or “swing trays” that clip to the inside spine of the case allowing multiple DVDs to be housed in one single 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 around 16 pages if the spine is stapled but more if the spine is glued. Generally, a standard case booklet should be a maximum of 32 pages whilst 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.