However hard you try, in production of orders we do sometimes have spoilt print or rejected burns from our machines.
That means we have unusable discs, which we always try to recycle in some way.
Just one wonderful use for a recycled CD/DVD !!
Recycling Discs: 13th September 2019
September 13th, 2019Sending CD’s and DVD’s in the post: 6th September 2019
September 6th, 2019Just a little practical help for you with posting out your CD’s and DVD’s; especially if you might be considering selling via social media or your own website.
Always use a Mailite or Jiffy bubble bag for protection if you have chosen to use Standard or Slimline Jewell case or a Plastic DVD Case. If you don’t they are likely to get broken and it will cost you more to replace the case for your customer.
Card cases obviously don’t break but can bend and of course the disc inside can break …so they still need protection.
Either use a bubble bag or stiff card envelope.
For Royal Mail this takes you into the “Large Letter ” pricing category so dont be tempted to just stick a small stamp on!!! They won’t deliver it if you get it wrong!!
The actual price of the stamp depends on the weight of the contents but when you are sending just 1 unit it will usually be in the first category (up to 100g) or possibly just into the second.
Don’t forget to cost the price of the postage into the price you charge your customer….it all adds up!!
You can check your pricing here:
Incredible Art: 30th August 2019
August 30th, 2019Every now and then we have art submitted for orders that really catches our eye!
Take a look at these card wallets:
Use our free artwork creator tool and the card wallet template in our artwork section to create your card wallet.
Love The Diversity: 22nd August 2019
August 22nd, 2019
Back Pain Instructional DVD
Whilst posting on Social Media I reflected on the huge diverstity of customers we have at Duplication Centre.
Its fantastic that we can work with so many interesting customers:
Instructional DVD’s for a whole host of topics: Fishing,Pilates, Back Pain Cure, Painting, Guitar tuition…. to name but a few.
CDs for School, CDs for both Solo Artists and Bands, Gospel Music, Prayer Casts, Self Help CDs, Mediation CD’s, Blank DVD’s for Photographers & Videographers,Theatre Prodcutions,University Graduation Ceremonies, Buskers, Fund raising/charity CDs.
Each project has its own special interest and purpose and makes our work both interesting and fulfilling.
Call us if you need help or advice with your project or get an instant quotation online:
Jargon Buster Part 3 – Audio & Video Files: 12th August 2019
August 12th, 2019This is the third and final article by Mark Smith our Director of Technology here at Duplication Centre; helping you to understand some of the terminology and abbreviations used in the industry.
Audio Files:
Unlike the disc image formats above, these are just individual audio files used by computers. They require ‘Authoring’ to a disc. Authoring a CD means taking the audio (in any of the formats) and writing it into a format and structure a simple CD player can understand and play
WAV
These are high quality audio files, very similar to standard CD-Audio. This is a very common format used in recording studios .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV
AIFF
AIFF is practically identical to WAV, but this format was developed by Apple in the late 80’s. Another very common format in recording studios.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Interchange_File_Format
MP3
This is a digital music format created for sending audio over the internet. The great attraction of the MP3 format is its ability to compress files, allowing them to use much less space. Technically lower quality than the above audio formats, but not really in any noticeable way
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3
FLAC
The Free Lossless Audio Codec. This is a newer format which is able to compress audio to take up space just like an MP3, but does so in a ‘lossless’ way. This means the audio quality should not be degraded in any way, but the file size will be noticeably smaller. A useful format that has only seen uptake in technical and audiophile community.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC
Video Files:
This section may appear a bit short, but I had to draw the line somewhere. There are a very large number of video formats that have existed over the years, far too many to discuss here. In practice there are 2 very common ones.
All video formats will require ‘Authoring’ to make a standard DVD-Video disc (OR a Blu-Ray-Video disc) to be player in a standard player. Simply burning a video file on a disc will not necessarily allow it to play in a standard player.
MP4
A modern high quality video format widely used in consumer and professional markets.
MOV
Another modern high quality video format widely used in consumer and professional markets. Developed by Apple.
Jargon Buster Part 2 – Artwork Files: 16th July 2019
July 16th, 2019This article is the second in our series to help you understand some of the terminology used in the duplication process
Artwork Files:
Beware, we are now moving into the area of artwork and the word image no linger relates to a disc image! When talking about artwork, and image is simply a picture, a graphic or photograph
PDF stands for “portable document format.” Adobe Systems designed this format, which has become the standard for exchanging electronic documents. Its a very complex and powerful format used extensively in artwork design and printing, perfect for supplying your artwork supporting the other artwork formats below, as well as special print formats, colours and vector graphics.
JPEG, TIFF, and PNG
These image formats are ideal for photos and similar images containing many colours offering good quality and acceptable sizes are possible. The quality / file size of a jpeg can be altered through the use of compression.
The three formats all vary slightly in the way they apply compression to the images, each with its own advantages. For printing its best to keep the compression at a minimum so the files are larger and better quality.
PSD
This format is only used by the graphics programs Photoshop. The files are generally large and contain lots of additional information and layers which are not needed for print. The complexity of the files make them perfect for editing and designing, BUT not ideal for printing. You should save your artwork to PDF or JPEG when ready to submit for printing.
To learn more about artwork formats this article is a good place to start, offering beginner guides to the various types: Further information on artwork formats.
Jargon Buster Part 1 – Master Discs:8th July 2019
July 8th, 2019As in most Industries there are many terms and abbreviations which are used in duplication, that have become part of our ordinary language. For the uninitiated these terms can sometimes appear complicated and a bit daunting. This is especially true of file formats as some terms are used to define different entity’s even when working in the same markets!
Our Director of Technology Mark Smith has written a series for articles that we will publish over the next 3 weeks explaining some of the most used terms,in relation the the optical media (CD, DVD and Blu-Ray) market. With links for more detailed explanations:
Physical Masters:
This simply means a hard copy CD or DVD which we can use to duplicate from.
Disc Image Formats:
The type of images here are not photographic images. The term relates to a ‘snapshot’ of the contents of a disc, the format and the exact layout.
The most important thing when working with disc images is you are sure you have formatted them correctly. Failing to do this will result in any discs made from them to be faulty. If there is any doubt, or you are new to this area, ask for help and advice. We have a team here who are always available for email, phone or online chat and will be very happy to help and advise you.
ISOnrg
An .iso image is a computer file that is an exact copy of an existing file system. ISO files are typically created through a software application that will extract the contents of a CD or DVD, and then write then as an exact electronic copy of the original disc to a file (a .iso file). This allows us to burn to burn an exact copy of the original onto CD or DVD.
Iso files are perfectly acceptable for CD-Rom and DVD-Video, but should not be used for CD-Audio due to technical restrictions
IMG
This format is very similar to a .ISO image with a few subtle changes and features which are beyond the scope of this article. For our purpose they can be used the same as an ISO, but more in depth information can be found in this article should you wish to learn more.
Like ISO files, .img should not be used for CD-Audio discs.
NRG
These files are a relatively new proprietary optical disc image file format. NRG files are used in the same way as other image formats, but are a more advanced and very versatile.
NRG files can be used for any type and format of disc, CD-ROM, CD-Audio, DVD-Video, Blu-Ray, etc.
DDP
This stands for Disc Description Protocol and is commonly used for delivery of disc pre-masters for commercial Glass Master Replication. The DDP format is compatible with all CD and DVD discs and is the industry professional format used in mass manufacture of discs. Although becoming more common, its a relatively unknown format used mainly within the optical media industry for transporting discs electronically between production facility’s and mastering houses.
DDP files can be accepted the same as all other listed image formats for duplication, but are not a specific requirement in any way. Further more detailed information on this format is available here.
Bin/Cue
This is a versatile image file format particularly useful for CD-Audio. The consist of two files,
- a binary data file (.bin file), This is the raw data of a disc, a solid block of information with no organisation.
- a Cue sheet (.cue file). This is a descriptive file, used to give structure and organisation to the raw binary (.bin) file.
Each of the Bin & Cue files are meaningless on their own, and must be provided together with their specific and matching partner, never mixed or edited. Further information of this file type can be found here.
Packaging and the Environment: 1st July 2019
July 1st, 2019At Duplication Centre we are sending out an increasing amount of sustainable card products which minimises the necessity for using a massive amount of plastic bubblewrap.
We do however still send lots of plastic and potentially breakable products and the reality is however much fragile tape you put on a parcel, they can sometimes get some rough treatment by the couriers!!!
Our priority is to get orders to customers in the perfect condition that they leave us, so good packing is important.
All this said we still try to reuse and recycle as much as we can :
*Boxes from incoming products are reused to double box giving amazing transit protection.
*Sourcing card boxes from other local businesses that would other wise be discarded.
*Reuse of mailite or bubble bags for outgoing samples and proofs.
It can be time consuming to recycle but we think it’s worth it .
Always trying to take responsibility for our own foot print.
FREE CD’s,DVD’s & BluRay: 25th June 2019
June 25th, 2019FREE 5 Extra Units with any order placed before 30th June !
Last week to get this great offer to help you make just a bit more money from your CD, DVD & BluRay sales ..
Just put the code FREE5 into the special code box when you check out.
https://www.duplicationcentre.co.uk/prices.html
Join Us On Instagram: 20th June 2019
June 20th, 2019
We have started to share Amazing Artwork and Important News on Instagram.
Dont miss out on seeing some inspiring and cool art from customers along with Important News and Offers.
Follow us on Instagram..and keep in touch …
.https://www.instagram.com/duplicationcentreltd/