dvdcopycat.com

To all of DVD Copycat’s business associates!

During a time of financial difficultly, I am humbled to say that DVD Copycat Inc. has done very well this year. We continue to grow aggressively and I can’t emphasize enough my most sincere thank-you to all of our customers and suppliers that have made this year a success. Between our customers, suppliers, and DVD copycat we form more than just a business mechanism, but a community of Business Professionals, Film, Video and Music individuals. It is this community that brings us to work everyday. To help promote and provide for great CD, DVD and Blu-ray(BD) projects.
Thanks very much for our 2008. I look forward to 2009!
Brian Fisher

DVD Copycat Inc.
Services for DVD Duplication & Replication

CD Duplication is copying or burning of Audio or Data CD or Disc Image onto blank CD-/+R or CD-/+RW.  The advantages to CD Duplication is that you can “burn” many fewer copies than CD Replication.  IF you only need 100 or 200 CDs, you can duplicate them much more cost effectively.  Quality is usually not an issue if you use a good printer and quality blank media.

Conversely, if you need more than 1000 CDs, it is much more cost effective to choose CD Replication.  CD Replication is a manufacturing process where a glass master and stamper is made to actually stamp the cd content into the Disc.  This has its advantages in that once the cost of the stamper and glass master have been created, you can realize significant cost saving over CD Duplication.

The detriment to CD Replication is that it usually takes more time to complete since the glass master and stamper process is much more elaborate that just burning or using CD Duplication.

If there are more questions out there regarding these two methods of making CDs, please dont hesitate to leave a comment or give us a call at 415.929.1581.

CD Duplication

Well it seems like there has been very little good news on the economic front these days. I personally have many friends and colleagues that are feeling the direct impact of this economic downturn.
With pocketbooks shrinking, it makes it even more difficult for the average consumer to go out and buy that new blu-ray player. Even though I have been seeing specials for Blu-ray Disc (BD) player under $200 dollars, I will be curious to see how many consumers have the extra money to buck up for the latest and greatest in Hi-def video.
I personally like Blu-ray. We have a player in our home and I enjoy the better picture, and just as importantly ,I get a bit of a personal rush when I know its the newest thing for Video. When our Netflix comes in the mail and it has a blu-ray disc in it, it is a bit more fun.
That being said, I believe this Christmas Season will be very tell-tale for the future of Blu-ray Disc.

So you have finished all the hard work of having your CD or DVD mastered and readied for production. Finally you are ready to have copies manufactured and can’t wait to sell and distribute this project you worked so hard on.

In our business as a DVD and CD Duplication and Replication house, there are a couple of simple preparations that will make your task of getting your project manufactured easier and less costly.

1. Preparation of your artwork - Most CD/DVD manufactures have specific art requirements for the disc and insert printing for your project. Be sure to look into these requirement and follow them to the letter. Changes in artwork always slow things down and usually cost design time and money. Most duplication houses have templates available online for your specific project.

2. Use good media to burn your master disc - sometimes there can be problems with cd and dvd masters when they are burned. Particularly when you use cheap blank discs. Always get a brand name disc to avoid poor master quality.

Incomplete art and bad masters represent 90% of the delays when it comes to DVD and CD Duplication and Replication.  So, take the extra time up front to make your art and master flawless, and things will go much more smoothly. In the end you will be happy you did.

Brian G Fisher
DVD Copycat Inc.
DVD Duplication and Replication Services

1-415-929-1581

DVD Copycat is proud to announce the release of a new CD-R that is pure silver on the bottom. These burnable CD-Rs look just like replicated CDs that you buy in music stores. Now you can get truly professional looking CDs for your next gig at volumes as low as 25 pcs.

For more information about these CDs, give us a call or look us up on the web.

Toll Free 1-866-210-8768
Local 415-929-1581
CD Duplication Services

Occasionally we receive requests to burn 1-5 DVDs for some of our clients.  This is usually a pretty expensive proposition since we have to setup art and a duplicator for just a few discs.

If you would like to save some money and do the DVD Duplication yourself, there are some steps that will result in a good duplication.

Step 1: is to make sure you have a good quality DVD burner.  If you have purchased a DVD burner that is a no-name brand, you may be jeopardizing a good burn.  You do get what you pay for in burners.  A good avenue would be to locate a technical consumer review of DVD burners.  The Internet has a long list of available research on burners.

Step 2: is to make sure you use good quality media.  Inferior media will result in poor results.  Once again you get what you pay for, Sony, Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden all make a reliable burnable DVD.

Step 3: Make sure you leave your computer alone while burning your DVD.  If you are using other programs while your DVD is burning, this may cause a problem with the burn.

Step 4:  Verify your burn!  Most burning software programs have a check box that will have the DVD read after the burn and compared to the original disc image.  If they match up ok, the software will tell you that your DVD has been verified and it is a good disc.

If you need any more information on DVD Duplication, Please contact us at:

415-929-1581

1-866-210-8768

DVD Copycat, Inc.

745 Fillmore, #101

San Francisco, CA 94117

www.dvdcopycat.com

Over the past year we have seen the cost of blank Blu-ray disc media come down pretty substantially. Within the last year, BD-R(burnable blu-ray) media costs have come down about 40%. This trend reminds me of DVD-R in 2000. I suspect over the next 2 years we will see BD-R costs drop enough to make publishing Hi-def video projects affordable to most video and film professionals.
We are not there yet, but with the most recent release of BD(Blu-ray) players being under $200, I suspect the market will begin to adopt much more quickly.
This Christmas Season will be very tell-tale for the Blu-ray Disc Industry.

For more information on Blu-ray Duplication, you can contact us at:

415-929-1581

DVD Copycat, Inc.
745 Fillmore, #101
San Francisco, CA 94117

Video and Film professionals who wish to shoot and publish their projects in Hi-Def have, to this point, been frustrated with the prohibitive costs associated with manufacturing a Blu-ray Disc.

Say an average filmmaker or video professional wants to make 1000 copies of their film and put it on Blu-ray(BD) Disc.   Unlike DVD, they will have to pay a mandatory up front AACS licensing fee.  Going rate is about $1500 to $2000 plus an ongoing royalty.

After paying this madatory liscensing fee, it will cost approximately $3.5 per unit to manufacture a Blu-ray package that is ready for distribution and sale.

For a typical standard definition DVD, there is no mandatory licensing fee for encryption and the cost would be approximately $1.49 per unit to manufacture.

Comparing these costs, a filmmaker  will have to pay an extra 266% over the cost of a standard DVD to publish on Blu-ray Disc.  Almost every client I have spoken to about these costs has declined to go Blu-ray.

As economies of scale take effect, the costs to manufacture Blu-ray Discs will likely come down and eventually be similar to DVD costs.  However, the real barrier to smaller companies adopting hi-def is the mandatory AACS licensing fee imposed by AACS Licensing Administrator, LLC.  This additional $1500-$2000 (plus per piece royalty), will likely be too expensive for most, and is just one more barrier to widespread adoption of Blu-ray Disc technology.

My hopes are that AACS Licensing Administrator, LLC. drops the mandatory licensing fee for smaller Blu-ray Disc orders.  If they do not, I suspect that an entire market of filmmakers and video professionals will be choosing DVD over Blu-ray Disc for the distribution of their projects.

For more information on Blu-ray Disc Duplication and Replication you can contact us directly:

Brian G Fisher

DVD Copycat

745 Fillmore, #101

San Francisco, CA 94117

www.dvdcopycat.com

415-929-1581

Well there is some promising news for Blu-ray Duplication (BD-R Duplication).  In late 2007 When the first burnable Blu-ray discs came out blank disc costs were quite high.  For most industry professionals, releasing a small project in Hi-def on Blu-ray discs was completely cost prohibitive.  For quality printable surface BD-R discs the average cost to our client was around $60.  Over the course of the last year there has been dramatic drops in the cost of burnable Blu-ray discs.  We have seen cost come down for our top quality discs by 40%.

This is good news to the filmmaker or video professional who is shooting in Hi-def.   If the current trend continues Blu-ray Duplication for smaller runs of discs (5-500 discs) should come within a much more cost effective price range.

IF the current trend continues, we hope to see 2009 as the first year where an order of, say 50 Blu-ray discs, is financially justifiable for the high end projects, and anticipate widespread adoption in 2010.

At DVD Copycat, we are very encouraged by these cost reductions and continue to provide Blu-ray Duplication for a wide range of Hi-def video projects.

For more information regarding Blu-ray Duplication contact us at: www.dvdcopycat.com

or call toll free at 1-866-210-8768

local 415-929-1581

I have recently posted new definitions for CD Duplication, DVD Duplication and BD Duplication on Google Knol.

If anyone reading these has any comments or addtions to these definitions, please let me know and I will make the updates.