Someone asked me the other day what DVD Duplicators are used for if not for copying movies one rents. I had just finished explaining to him that a DVD Duplicator Tower can not copy that kind of disc.
CD/DVD duplicators are the workhorse of many industries including independent music groups, Church and Ministry, sports organizations, marketing groups, Videographers, Education and software development and distribution. they are not used for some kind of nefarious production of pirated discs. In reality the business of pirated discs is done on the very same production lines that create the valid copies of software, just at night when the factory is supposed to be closed. The Chinese government has been cracking down these operations but they are the true face of piracy. It’s not China: it just happens to be China this time around. It happens all over the world.
DVD duplicators, DVD Publishers and DVD Copiers come in several distinct groups. The terms are somewhat loose in meaning and in the case of DVD Copier it is used for both software copying (Usually illegal, at least in the US) and hardware DVD copiers which can not circumvent copy protection.
DVD Copier: DVD Duplicator Tower Rackmount DVD Duplicator
DVD Duplicator Tower
This type of disc duplication equipment is a bunch of recording drives connected via a controller which manages all the recording functions. The duplicator can have a hard drive for storing disc images temporarily or long-term. These systems are manually loaded and unloaded. Each disc requires a person to insert a disc and remove a disc. No printing is done with this type of system with the exception of light Scribe drive equipped duplicators. Microboards Technology carries a line of this type of DVD copier (and in a sense a DVD Publisher). Light Scribe prints in black and white in high resolution. It’s major disadvantage is speed. Although with optimized labels it can be done quickly the unit still requires an operator to flip the discs over so that the laser can “etch” the image on the label side. DVD copiers can record CDs and DVDs as long as they are not copy-protected. DVD copiers are also called DVD Tower Duplicator or Rackmount DVD Duplicator depending on the enclosure configuration. As I had mentioned earlier there is some confusion in the market between what a DVD Copier does and is. Leave it to the masses that it at least in a search engines database it is for illegally breaking encryption and not the hardware version that shows up lower in search which can not break encryption. One turns the DVD copier on, waits for the controller to “boot up” and you then you are ready to load your CD-R discs or DVD-R and DVD+R, DVD+R DL blanks and master disc. The master disc (the disc you want to copy) can be loaded into the hard drive as an ISO image or the disc can be copied on the fly. If you are trying to copy a disc you got over at your local rental store it will not work. The units will not copy discs with copy protection, CD or DVD. One would have to look elsewhere for that capability. Some DVD duplicator towers and rackmount DVD duplicator units are equipped with Daisy chain connections. this allows one unit to share the disc image with all the other connected towers so you can take one master and produce 2000 copies at one time. 200 ten bay towers would do the trick. DVD copiers are the fastest method of producing recorded DVD discs. Their cousins the automated DVD duplicator and DVD publisher are slower but do not get tired or have to be paid. They can run through the night using robotics and gravity to move the disc from a input spindle to a recording drive and then to a printer if it’s a publisher or to the output spindle if it’s just a duplicator.
DVD Duplicator: Automated DVD Duplicator, Auto Duplicator, Disc Duplicator
R-Quest TCA-1800 Autoloader
DVD duplicators have many of the same attributes that DVD copiers have with the difference that A DVD duplicator autoloader is equipped with robotics or some kind of singulator: a device that drops discs using gravity and a circular aperture that allows one disc to drop at a time. The Auto DVD duplicator can run unattended for a long time and that is it’s primary advantage. It’s “lights out” limit is based around the amount of discs it can hold in the input and output spindles. Discs can be pre-printed to speed up the process of duplication.
DVD Publisher: Automated DVD Duplicator Publisher, Auto Publisher, Disc Publisher, Printer Disc Duplicator
R-Quest Disc Publisher
DVD Publishers differ from DVD duplicator autoloaders in that they combine a DVD printer and DVD duplicator so the discs can be burned and printed. Printing technologies include inkjet, thermal and thermal re-transfer dye sublimation. The requirements of a autoloading DVD Duplicator and a DVD Publisher are about the same except for additional label software that is needed for the label design and layout. Adding printing to the process is convenient but can slow down the duplication process depending on graphics and burn times of the recordable discs. It’s key feature like the DVD Duplicator auto-loader is unattended operation.
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