Manufacturing a DVD suitable for selling consists of 2 primary steps, (1) manufacturing the disc and (2) making the “package” that houses the disc. These are the steps after you have an authored disc. For clarification, by “DVD” I mean the combination of the disc PLUS the print material PLUS the labor to package everything together into what is referred to as a “retail-ready” product.
There are two options for manufacturing the disc itself: (a) duplication and (b) replication. Duplication refers to burning the data from a master disc onto a recordable blank disc. Replication involves making a “glass master” or “stamper” from the master disc and then pressing and laminating plastic from some very large and expensive machines. Most replicators charge $150-$250 for manufacturing the glass master, so there is a built-in floor price to replicate. As a rule of thumb, up to 300 DVDs, duplication should have a lower total dollar outlay than replication. Between 300-500 units is a gray area where the duplication price inches closer to replication, and for over 500 units, it makes more sense to pursue replication.
(Duplication equipment for small volume runs from 25 to 300 units.)
The decision drivers for duplication are volume and budget. If you plan to have only few DVDs made for press kits or a small run “1st edition”, or have a budget of less than $1000, then duplication is the better choice. Although the per-unit cost for duplicating a disc is higher than replicating it, your up-front cost will be lower. For example, if you duplicate 100 DVDs in a standard black case, you can expect to pay anywhere from $3.50 - $5.00 per DVD (disc + the packaging). This price range should include the duplicated disc, 4-color printing on the disc itself, a 4-color single-sided cover-wrap for the case, packaging of the case with poly-wrapping (the same clear plastic wrapping material used for cigarette and perfume boxes). For replication of 1000 DVDs with the same printing and packaging specifications outlined above, the price range is $1.20 - $1.40 per DVD. If you want to see if a quote you received is competitive, you can see our price list here.
(There are different type of DVD cases, choose ones with higher composition of virgin materials vs. recycle materials. Better yet, go w/ 100% virgin.)
Duplication is similar to burning a disc on your computer, except that professional duplicators use faster and higher quantity burners. The major draw-back associated with duplication is the real and perceived quality issues. Duplicated discs results in higher playback failure rates than replicated discs. The three factors that govern quality in duplication are: the quality of the master, the quality of the blank media, and the quality of the equipment. The mastering quality you can control, the blank media you can specify (Phillips, Ri-Data or Memorex are all good brands, and the gold standard is Taiyo Yuden), and you can choose better equipment by proxy by selecting a duplication company with an established reputation. Most duplicators are able to turn-around jobs in 2-5 days, depending on the quantity and time for approval on the artwork. The artwork approval is normally done via a digital file (most common is a PDF). The on-screen color will vary from monitor to monitor, and you should expect the final print on the disc and cover-wrap to have a slight variation. This is true for most low volume manufacturing jobs, so don’t beat-up the duplicator too badly if the colors are not exactly as you had designed it.
Replication begins to make sense when you can commit at least a $1000 budget for the DVD manufacturing. Replication is an entirely different process, with a first-time job requiring the making of a glass master (or “stamper”). The entire process from submitting your master to receiving the finished DVD takes from 7 to 15 business days, depending on the replicator, seasonality, and the time it takes to approve artwork. Replicators are much more insistent about clients submitting an intellectual property rights declaration document which states you have the authority or own the copyright to the content (including soundtracks) being replicated. There are also a host of middlemen “brokers” in the industry whose business is to acquire clients, then source the jobs to replicators and printers. If you are able to work directly with the manufacturer, you will likely save money. However, since you are a small client, you may not receive the customer service or turn-time that a broker who has twenty jobs with the replicator would receive. There are replicators out there who offer a complete package deal, where they will perform the replication, printing, and packaging to give you a finished product just like a broker would. With increased competition the customer service gap has narrowed dramatically over the last three to five years between replicators and brokers, so you’re likely to experience a parity in customer service from either.
Here are pictures of the replication and printing equipment, if you’re curious to see what each looks like.
High Volume CD and DVD Printer
These are generic questions I would ask a potential duplicator or replicator:
- How long have they been in business under their existing name? (Some less scrupulous duplication and replication companies with the same owner close and reopen under another name to avoid licensing fees or lawsuits.)
- How many projects do they do per week?
- Do they have any pricing specials and what is their most economically priced offering?
- (if duplicator) What blank media brand do they use?
- How many colors can they print on the disc?
- (if duplicator) Does their blank disc have a white base coat or is it silver?
- (if duplicator) Is the disc face printing direct to the blank media or onto a peel-and-stick label that is then applied to the disc?
- What type of paper is the case cover-wrap printed in house or out-sourced? (typical paper is glossy 80 or 100 pound weight)
- What is the composition of virgin and recycled material that is in their DVD cases? (the more recycle material, the smellier and more brittle. I recommend 60-40 higher virgin material or 100% virgin content. It may cost more but the perceived product quality is noticeably higher.)
- Do they over-wrap or shrink-wrap the case? (do not opt to go with shrink-wrapping because placing the DVD case in the heat-tunnel will cause the plastic cover on the DVD case to warp or crease)
- Besides the traditional DVD case solution, what other packaging solutions do they offer?
Next time…
In the next post I’ll cover the printing and packaging aspects of DVD manufacturing and different packaging–including eco-friendly solutions–as an alternative to the traditional black petroleum-based DVD case. I will also explain a hybrid manufacturing solution to reduce the overall price a 300-500 replicated DVD job.
