18.8. Professional Duplicating Maybe you've organized a school play, and you want to sell copies of the performance to parents as a fundraiser. Maybe you want to send out "new baby" videos to your family circle. Or maybe you've used iDVD to create a video brochure of your small business's products and services. In each of these cases, burning the DVDs one at a time on your own Mac looks more and more like a time-consuming , expensive hassle. Accordingly , when you want to make more than a handful of copies of your DVD, you might want to consider enlisting the aid of a DVD service bureau . (DVD service bureaus are middlemen between you and the large replication plants, which don't deal directly with the public.) Technically, these companies offer two different services: -
Duplication. Duplicated discs are copies of your original DVD. Service bureaus use banks of DVD burners, five or ten at a time, that churn out copy after copy on DVD-Rs (the same kinds of blanks as you used). You pay for materials and labor, usually by the hour. (Discs with less data burn quicker, producing more discs per hour .) This is the way to go if you need fewer than 100 copies of your disc. (On the other hand, remember that some DVD players don't play DVD-R discs.) -
Replication. Replication is designed for huge numbers of copies: 200 and up. In this process, the company actually presses the DVDs just the way Hollywood movie studios do itand the results play back in virtually every DVD player. Replicated discs are produced in factories. When replicated, the data from your master DVD-R is placed on a pressed 4.7 GB "DVD-5" disca standard DVDs, not a DVD-R. POWER USERS' CLINIC
DVD-R, DVD+R, and Drutil | | Apple says that iDVD 5 can now record onto more kinds of blank DVDs than evernot just DVD-R and DVD-RW, but also DVD+R and DVD+RW. (Both kinds of discs play on recent DVD players once they're burned. But most burners can record onto one format or the othereither "-" or "+." Thousands of people, not noticing the difference when they buy blanks at the store, inadvertently buy the wrong kindand they wind up being burned.) But not all Macs offer this new flexibility. You have to have the right kind of SuperDrive. So how can you tell? One quick way is to use Terminal, the Unix command program that comes with Mac OS X. It's in your Applications  Utilities folder. Once the program opens up, you see some Unix codes that end with a $ symbol. At this point, type drutil info and press Enter. You've just told Unix to run its drutil (disc recorder utility) program. Instantly, the window fills with useful information about your Mac's disc-recording equipment, including who manufactured it (probably Pioneer). Near the end of this block of info, you can see, quite clearly, which kinds of DVD it can write (that is, burn). For example, it might say, "DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, BUFE, Test." If you see only "-R, -RW," then your Mac can't record on DVD+R and DVD+RW blanks. Shop accordingly. (At this point, you can quit Terminal, unless of course you have other Unix work to do.)  |
Expect to pay about a dollar per disc for a run of 1,000 discs. Smaller runs will cost more per disc, larger runs less, but $1,000 is about the least you'll pay for a replication job.
Note: DVD service bureaus often call themselves replicators, even though they offer both duplication and replication.
18.8.1. Prepare to Copy All DVD service bureaus accept DVD-R masters, of the sort that iDVD burns. Nevertheless, keep these tips in mind: -
Submit two. Always submit two copies of your master. It costs you almost nothing in materials and time, and can save your project if one of the discs fails. -
Use name brands. Burn your masters on the best-quality discs available. Brandname blanks, like Verbatim, Maxell or TDK, are less likely to lead to duplication problems. (One replicator complains that if you hold those cheapie 30-cent discs up to the light, you can see light pass right through them!) -
Use DVD-Rs. Despite the format wars in DVD standards (DVD-R vs. DVD+R), the R standardthe one used by more Macsis better for replication. Many factories, in fact, don't accept +R discs, which leads to manufacturing problems. -
You don't need a SuperDrive. If your Mac doesn't have a DVD burner , most service bureaus can create the DVDs from a disk image (which you can now create directly from iDVD 5). You'll pay a little extra for the conversion. -
Collect your copyright documentation. Every replicator will ask you to sign a copyright release stating that you have permission to use the material on your disc. (If you're not asked about this, run away screaming. It's a red flag that you're dealing with an unsavory replicator.) As a rule, anything you've videotaped is yours. You own it. If you use music from a friend, then a simple signed and dated letter will do: "Casey is my friend and has the right to use my music." If you're using royalty-free material, make a note of it. And if you've using music you bought from the iTunes music store (or ripped from a commercial music CD), well, you may be on thin ice. 18.8.2. Choosing a Replicator When choosing a service bureau or reseller, start by getting referencespreferably on recent projects. Do your legwork and make the calls. You can also check with the Better Business Bureau to see if a service bureau has a history of customer complaints.
Tip: Choose a licensed replicator. Replicators and manufacturers must pay a small royalty on every DVD they produce, because DVDs are a copyrighted technology. Some factories, even in the US, operate with questionable practicessome pay all their fees, some pay part of their fees, some don't pay fees at all. Reputable service bureaus don't work with gray-market replicators.
Take cost into account when picking a service bureau, but keep in mind that you often get what you pay for. It may be worth paying extra to find a technically savvy reseller that will ask the right questions, hold your hand as needed, and make sure that your project turns out right. 18.8.3. Working with Replicators When submitting a work order, be very specific. Unless you specify Amray cases (the Blockbuster-style cases, with a little plastic hub that holds the center of the DVD) and cigarette-stripped shrink wrap (standard clear plastic wrapping, so named because you pull a strip to open it, just as on a pack of cigarettes), you may end up with DVDs shoved into CD jewel cases. Sit down with your salesperson and go through all the options, from packaging to turnaround time. Complex packaging takes more time and costs more. Consider ordering your discs in bulk paper sleeves or "slimline" cases (the most basic DVD delivery cases), without printing on them, to save on costs and time. To save even more money, you may be able to set up a deal where you pay to replicate 1,000 discs but package only 200 of them. UP TO SPEED
Making DVDs Last | | Your homemade DVDs (which are "burned" using dyes) probably won't last the 100 years expected of commercial DVDs (which are etched with lasers). But don't get too depressed by the occasional article about homemade DVDs "going bad" in a matter of months. Most cases of "DVD rot" come down to one of two things: problems created during manufacturing or poor handling by their owners . There's not much you can do about manufacturing errors, apart from buying name-brand blank DVDs. As for handling, these tips should ensure that your recordable DVDs will last for years: Store your discs in a cool, dry place. DVD-Rs are sensitive to both temperature and humidity. In an ideal world, DVDs would love to live in a cupboard that's 68 degrees Fahrenheit with 30 to 50 percent humidity. In the real world, room temperature is fine as long as temperature swings aren't a fact of life. Recordable DVD's hate large changes in humidity, too. Keep your discs out of the light. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light degrades the organic dyes in the recordable layer, possibly making the data on your discs unreadable. Regular light may also hurt your discs, primarily through heat. Don't flex your discs. With their laminated polycarbonate layers , recordable DVDs are very sensitive to of bending or flexing. In fact, the quickest way to destroy your disc is to bend it. So don't. Store your discs in soft envelopes or in cases where you pinch a center hub to release the DVD. Don't store them in CD jewel boxes that have a snap-on hub. Hold discs by the edges. Fingerprints, scratches, and dust on the disc surface interfere with a laser's ability to read data. DVDs are much more sensitive than CDs in this regard, because the data is crammed together so much more tightly. Don't stick on labels. Adhesive labels throw off the disc's balanceand might even ruin your drive when the heat makes the glue melt. Instead, use a CD-safe marker to write on your DVD-Rs. |
18.8.4. Fulfillment If you're interested in selling your DVD masterpieces, you may want to hire yet another company to package, mail, and collect payment for them. Fulfillment companies, many run by DVD service bureaus, build a basic Web site, take orders, and mail out your discs. All you have to do is provide your iDVD masters, sign the contracts, pay the setup billsand start working on your Oscar acceptance speech.  |
