We will now be focusing all of our manufacturing efforts on USB Flash Drives, DVD duplication and Replication, CD Duplication and Replication and Blu-ray Duplication and Replication services.  We could not be happier with the current progress of this considerable effort.

New to the site will be the ability to place an order online via e-commerce along with an additional 25% more products and many more pricing options and turn times.  If you have any questions about our transition to the new site, or have comments about the new look, please let us know.  We would love to hear from you.

DVD Masters:

The Basics :

DVD Masters need to be submitted as an authored DVD.  This means that if you have been through editing, you need to get your edited project on an authoring platform and create your menus, compression, and final DVD.  Some common authoring platforms are: DVD Studio Pro, iDVD, Sonic Scenarist, Nero, Adobe Encore.  If you are not sure that you have authored your DVD just give us a call and we should be able to determine the state of your project.

Once your project is complete and you have an authored master, in most circumstances we recommend that you submit a fully working DVD-R master that you have thoroughly watched, have checked all menu functionality and are completely satisfied with the quality of your final master.  Once we receive your master we guarantee to give you exact copies of your project back, so be sure you are happy with your master before you end up with 2000 discs you don’t like or cannot use.

Electronic Submission of DVD Master:

Some times we have clients that would like to save a day or two of snail mail and submit their DVD disc image master electronically.  We typically discourage this as in most circumstances we would charge to create the DVD master from a disc image, then, to insure the content and integrity of the master, would typically send that master disc back to our client for final approval on the master.  Ultimately this would result in longer approval time.  The best way to ensure we do a great job on your project is to submit a hard master that has been thoroughly checked for functionality and quality.

The only caveat to this method of master delivery is if you would like CSS copy protection on your DVD video.  In this circumstance, you will need to submit your master as either a DDP master or a DLT master.  You can read the ins and outs of applying DVD CSS encryption here on this blog post.

CD Masters:

CD Audio Master Basics :

For submitting CD Audio masters, the best standard to submit you master under is the “Red Book Audio Standard”.  Particularly when replicating your disc, if you want your audio to be flawless and manufacturing to go smooth.  If you would like to address things like having the text show up on your CD, embedded metadata and ISRC codes, look up the Red Book Audio Standards, have your music mastered at a credible mastering studio with an experienced audio engineer.

If you are working on a budget and cannot afford an audio engineer, you can create you master with any number of commercially available audio programs.  This method is often very successful, particularly if you have limited requirements for you CD,…ie. do not need CD text to show, do not need metadata or ISRC codes embedded in your music.

Electronic Submission of CD Master:

On occasion we do receive requests from clients who would like to upload their tracks to us and have DVD Copycat create the master.  Again, we usually recommend that you submit a hard copy CD-R master according to Red Book Audio standards.  If you would like us to assemble your master, we can drop your tracks on a CD, but this often times is problematic, as mistakes can be made or preferences can be set not according to the expectations of our clients.  ie, time between tracks is to long or short, track order is not correct, etc.  For these reasons, when we do create audio masters, we do send that master back to the client for approval before manufacturing.

Data CDs and CD-ROMs:

In most circumstances Data CDs and CD-ROMs must be submitted as a hard master on CD-R.  Data CDs can often have auto executable files or complex software  applications, or too many files to accurately transfer over the internet.  So when submitting this type of master, we recommend sending us a fully functional CD-R.  In some circumstances we will create a master for you, but in this exception we will need to send you a copy of the master we created for your approval.

As always, we are looking for ways to provide our clients with top notch service and a great product.  If you have suggestions on how we can make improvements, please contact us and tell us about it.  We are looking forward to another successful year in 2011 and look forward to serving all of our current great clients and picking up some new ones too.

The best way to make sure the track names show on your CD is to use a CD TOC or Table of Contents.  This TOC must be created and properly embedded into your CD by your audio engineer.  What gets confusing is that you can accomplish getting your track names to appear on your CD by also using I Tunes or similar program and submitting your track names to the CDDB or Grace-note database.  This solution only works, however, if you have an internet connection which can access the Grace-note database and download the track names to your player.  So without internet connection, all you will see is “Track 1″, “Track 2″, etc. on your player.

To make things a little more complicated, there is also additional information called ISRC(International Standard Recording Code) codes that can be used as a “digital fingerprint” as a unique identifier for your particular audio track.  You can get these codes by contacting usISRC.org and applying for them.  These codes also must be embedded by your audio engineer and are primarily used to identify your song for online purchase or general identification.

In short, getting your CD Text to show is not as easy as you might think, but with the right advice and audio expert you can cover all of your bases.

ISRC Codes, TOC(CD Table of Contents) and Gracenote or CDDB database must all be considered to make sure your CDs content is traceable and identifiable and that the CD Text shows on all players.

After you have finished all of these steps, you are then ready for your CD Replication or CD Duplication Job.

If you have more questions that you cannot find answered on our website, take a look at this good resource for Compact Disc manufacturing information.

We are now located at:

300 Broadway Street, #23

San Francisco, CA 94133

Phone numbers and emails have remained the same.

We planned for, and accomplished, a seamless transition.    Already we have realized improved delivery efficiencies, production accuracy, and the overall quality of our work with the additional space.

Our continuing goal is to make it easy to do business with DVD Copycat.  We are here to provide you with great DVD and CD Duplication and Replication products, delivered on time.

If you need to contact us or have an upcoming job, you can response to this email or give us a quick call!

Ask for Brian or Stella

415-929-1581

Secondly, many people ask if they sign a waiver that exempts us from liability, can we make the duplications for them.  Again this is another work around, but still just as illegal and is something that we cannot do.

Plain and simple, you should not be attempting to make multiple copies of any music that has a copywrite without express written consent of the copyright holder.

If you need more information regarding this topic please don’t hesitate to call us or write.

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I am sure you know what I am going to say next.  With the advent of digital content and sharing for music, like napster, itunes and the like, physical CD sales have dropped quite dramatically over the good old days of CDs manufacturing.  However, there is another change that is transforming the music CD manufacturing world.  Most clients now a days prefer printed cardboard pockets or fold out cardboard wallets.  There are several advantages to this packaging over the old jewel cases.

Advantage #1:  They are more eco friendly – this packaging uses all biodegradable paper and inks, unlike the plastic jewel cases that will be around for the next 1000 years in some landfill.

Advantage #2: No breaking – since the pacakging is all cardboard, there is no potential for getting a cracked case.

Advantage #3: Shipping is about 1/2 the weight of jewel cases, so if you are spending $110 to ship your5 boxes at 180 lbs of 1000 CDs across the country in jewel cases, now you can ship two boxes at 35 lbs apiece and only pay $65.  They also travel much better in suitcases(a great advantage to the traveling band).

Given all of these benefits, and really no detriments, I am surprised that the industry has not moved this way may years ago.  It is a very good thing that more and more people are thinking “green” and getting some additional benefits for their intentions.

If you have any more questions about our CD Duplication and Replication products, give us a holler at: 1-866-210-8768 or email me at brian@dvdcopycat.com.  I would be happy to discuss more.

To have this happen you need to find a program that will embed your metadata in your disc master. If you do some digging, you should be able to find freeware that will do this. First you have to create your asset file, ie your music track, you should be able to use freeware to add the Artists name, Track and Titles. Your duplicator or replicator should know if this data is present on your tracks.

Also, remember that programs like I tunes has their own meta system that will typically only show up on Apple products, if you put that CD in your car player, for example, you will not see the artists and titles as you would if the correct embedding is done.

If you need more information about this subject, please give us a call or contact via email. You can get all of our information on our website here. www.dvdcopycat.com

For More Information take a look at our website here optical disc manufacturing.
Or give us a call at 1-866-210-8768

I strongly believe that choosing a quality model over price will always give the strongest long term benefits to both our clients and our bottom line.  When choosing price over quality, there is a cascade effect on all services and products.  You cannot provide both quality and low cost.

As I have developed this business we have chosen to try to avoid the “Low Cost Provider” business model.  It is my business philosophy to provide and instill trust, expertise and quality mindedness in our workforce and customer relationships.

I have chosen this philosophy because I have found with the “Low Cost Provider” model what eventually happens to a business is that customer service and commitment suffers. As margins are cut, so is quality of work staff, enthusiasm and moral.  Carelessness and poor work result.  I’ve seen this in our industry with many companies over the past 6 years.

At DVD Copycat, we try to maintain standards of service and expertise well above the industry norm.

My point to all this is that DVD Copycat is poised to add value to our clients.  We can chase down the things you need and make sure you a being taken care of beyond the lowest common denominator of cost.  That is what I have organized our business to do.

So when choosing to Replicate your DVDs, CDs or Blu-ray Disc, you can count on DVD Copycat to provide you with the best quality out there within a reasonable cost.

For more information about Duplicating your DVD project contact us at 1-866-210-8768