Choosing the Right DVD-CD Duplicator or DVDCD Publisher By Afzal Mohammed Khan
Duplication towers are all over these days. They provide a great way to mass-produce a large quantity or small quantity of discs in a rather short period of time. However, it is difficult to decide which duplicator is right for your production needs. After all, DVD/CD duplicators come in all shapes, sizes, capacities, and brands. To add to the confusion, some duplicators are automated, while others are manual. So which one will you choose? Well I can’t make that decision for you, but I can provide you with some useful information that will aid in your decision of picking a duplicator. The first thing you should decide when picking a duplicator is the capacity or size of the jobs you will be doing. Duplicators come with either one recording drive, and can go all the way up to a couple hundred recording drives. Understanding your production requirements can go a long way in saving you money as well as the hassle of picking the wrong duplicator. Next, it would be wise to choose whether you want a duplicator that just copies your information or one that copies and prints. Depending on your production needs and who your intended clients are, a standard duplicator that only copies will be perfect for you. However, if you need custom printed discs, then I would highly recommend going with a publisher or publishing system. Next depending on your production needs, I would determine if you want a manual or autoloading duplicator/publisher. Generally, manual duplication/publication tends to be faster than autoloading, which is great for mass-producing discs in a short period of time. However with manual duplicators, you have to spend your time feeding the duplicator. Unlike manual, autoloading duplicators/publishers do not require a person to manually feed them discs to operate. These duplicators/publishers are simple load-and-go machines that only require the user to load blank discs into the machine. The autoloading feature allows for the user to start the duplicator/publisher and return when it is done. Also each brand of autoloading duplicator/publisher has their own unique ways of loading their particular machines. Brands such as Primera use a robotic arm to manually pick up and place discs while brands like Microboards use a simple drop and feed mechanism that let gravity place the discs. Some of the major brands of duplicators are Primera, Epson, TEAC, Rimage, Microboards, and R-Quest. Lastly it is recommended that you choose whether you want a standalone duplicator/publisher or if you want one that connects directly to a personal computer. Standalone