1. What is the difference between Duplication and Replication?

Duplication is when a blank CD or DVD discs has the content burnt on to it using a CD/DVD recorder. At Diskmax we have many duplicator towers to burn many discs in one go for fast turn around. Duplication is the standard process for quantities less than 1000.

Replication is when is disc is pressed/manufactured. A glass master disc is made from the master disc provided which is used to imprint the content to a molded disc. There is a minimum run of 1000 disc replication however the cost per unit is much cheaper than duplication but the trade off is a longer turnaround time for replication.

2. What are the turnaround times for duplication and replication?

Duplication has the fastest turnaround time as it is done in-house. As a guide, to print in full colour, contents burnt and pack 100 discs would take approx 1 hour, less for black thermal print.

Because replicated discs are pressed by our manufacturing partners there is a 7-10 day turnaround time.

3. What are the printing methods used?

For duplication we use Rimage Everest II printers which is well known in the industry for producing the best photo lab print quality on discs. It use Thermal Dye Sumblimation print method and it’s a CMYK process.  It produces an image with vibrant colors and a finish that is very durable.

For replication the printing method used will be either off set print or Spot Color silk-screen print depending on the artwork.

4. Do you provide sample prints?

We are happy to provide a free sample of our Thermal Dye Sub printed disc, just email us your hi-resolution artwork (minimum 300 dpi for the best results) together with your postal address.

We do not provide samples for replicated discs as they are not produced in-house and uses printing method that is the printing industry standard producing a guaranteed quality.

5. What is the difference between DVD5 and DVD9?

DVD5 is the industry term for a single sided, single layer DVD with 4.7GB of storage.
DVD9 is the industry term for a single sided, dual layer DVD with 8.5GB of storage.

Both DVD types can be duplicated however replication is recommended for DVD9 to ensure playability on all DVD players.

Glossary of terms

Artwork – The designs layout and graphics that are printed on a disc, an entrapment, an insert, or other printed materials.

Burn – To write/record information onto a disc

Content – All of the audio, data, videos, pictures, software or multimedia files to be burned on to a disc

Glass Master - Special glass disc that is etched with a powerful laser; can be used to make hundreds or thousands of replicated discs in specialized disc replication machines.

Master Disc – The original copy of whatever it is you want to duplicate/replicate in its exact form and functionality.

Offset Printing - a printing technique that creates consistent high quality images where the inked image is transferred to the printing surface (discs or paper) from a plate or rubber blanket.

Silk -Screen Printing - A printing method that uses prepared finely woven cloth patterns to produce high quality color results for printing on discs using spot colors.

Spot Color (Pantone) - Pantone Matching System is the system based on printing a specific mix of pigments to create new and more exact colors. Pantone spot colors are the proprietary color space for the selection and accurate communication in printing. Their allocated Pantone number describes the colors, which have a certain pigment value to reproduce the colors in the closest and most specific shade.

Resolution -  The number of pixels that can fit into one square inch. Measured in dots-per-inch (DPI), it is a measure of quality where higher is typically better.