CD and DVD Duplicators Key Terms

Understand CD and DVD duplicators key terms to best utilize equipment

By Christine Pollock
When you have a CD or DVD you want to copy, consider working with CD and DVD duplicators services or purchasing replication equipment. Understand CD and DVD duplicators key terms to make the optimal purchase for your unique purposes. Duplicators, also called replicators, take a CD or DVD and copy them onto blank discs without error.

The CD and DVD duplicators index titles and prepare them for general consumer usage, complete with security encoding when applicable. Duplicators come in several categories ranging from automatic to manual. Some use personal computers (PCs) for programming, and others work alone.

 

Replicator, duplicator

If you want a couple of copies of a CD or DVD, or even if you want thousands of copies of a CD or DVD, you want to find a replicator. This is a device that copies something already in existence. CD and DVD replicators come in manual, automated and towered units.
Try: Cine Magnetics Digital and Video Laboratories provides information on DVD replication and duplication legalities and options.

Outsource

CD and DVD duplicator suppliers sometimes work with other companies to provide greater volume or to customize CDs and DVDs. Contracting with a supplier that is not a part of its company is outsourcing.
Try: Go to VendorSeek to learn about using various services for your CD and DVD duplication needs through outsourcing.

Labeling

It's important for consumers to know what is on a CD or DVD, so labeling a title is very important. Labeling a DVD or CD includes writing a name, producer information, image and/or index of selections on a paper that adheres to the duplicated disc.
Try: PC World recommends various ways to label CDs and DVDs, from case inserts to using software and setting up a printer.

Automatic duplicators

An automatic duplicator is an ideal tool for those who want to avoid manually feeding a duplicating device. Using robotic engineering, an "arm" takes blank discs off a pile and places it into the burner for replication. Other types of automatic dispensers use gravity to transfer blank discs into the burner. Most automatic duplicators work with a PC.
Try: YouTube offers a visual explanation of an automatic duplicator for DVDs and CDs. It demonstrates the process on an Epson duplicator.

Manual duplicators

Favored by those wishing to reduce productions costs, the manual duplicator copies CDs and DVDs without robotic or gravitational assistance. The user loads each blank CD or DVD then unloads it. Usually this type of replication does not require a PC connection.
Try: Videomaker defines the manual duplicator in great detail and compares it with other types of duplicators.

Duplication tower

A duplication tower copies CDs and DVDs without the use of extra software. Generally a stand-alone unit, it stacks writers of CDs and DVDs in a vertical unit called a tower.
Try: New Cyberian Systems explains duplicator towers in detail, including common configurations and mechanics.


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