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CD/DVD Duplicators and Printers FAQs

1. Should I choose an automatic copier/printer system or a separate manual copier and printer?

· CD/DVD Tower Systems
For maximum speed and ease of use when copying, one or more manually loaded CD or DVD towers usually offers the best solution. A tower contains a number of CD or DVD writers plus a CD or DVD Rom drive and an advanced microprocessor controller. Simply insert your master disk into the CD Rom drive. Then insert blank disks into the writers, specify the number of copies required and press the button - that's all there is to it.
Our towers will automatically detect the format of your master disk and produce identical copies. They will also detect any disk errors and reject any bad copies.
No computer or other controlling device is required when using a tower.
When purchasing a tower you should take care to select a model which uses the best quality drives and controller since the failure rate of cheaper components can be remarkably high.
A separate inkjet printer will complete the production of professional CD's (see below).

· Automatic Copiers / Printers
An automatic machine uses a robotic arm to handle disks. This must be controlled via software running on a dedicated standard PC (the PC must not be used for other tasks whilst working the copier). You can choose just a copier or a complete system which includes a colour printer.
The copying and/or printing job is programmed directly from a PC workstation and once started it will be carried out with no human intervention (except for refilling the blank disc stack as required). You can program several consecutive tasks involving different data.
Because you do not need to remember to swap discs the automatic systems can be left to produce small batches of discs overnight or whilst you are away from your desk. The addition of an integrated printer enables these systems to produce finished printed disks.
Automatic systems are obviously more expensive than the manual alternative and they tend be slower because they have fewer Disk Writers. Their big advantage is that they do not require supervision once started.

2. Will inkjet printing produce professional results or do I need a thermal printer?
Modern inkjet disc printers and inkjet printable discs will produce very high quality prints including full colour illustrations and photographs if required. Inkjet is by far the most popular printing method. The printed result is not as durable as thermal printing but these days only a determined attempt will succeed in smudging the image. If the discs are likely to be subjected to rough handling you can spray the printed surface with our colour fix spray.
Thermal printing produces more durable results but these printers are much more expensive.

3. Are these machine reliable?
Very. Although our prices are highly competitive you can be assured that we use top quality drives and all other components are built to the highest standards. The failure rate is extremely low but we do carry all replacement components for prompt repair in the UK if required.

4. Can I copy music discs?
Yes. These systems automatically detect the format of the master disc to be copied and produce exact copies. Dozens of file formats are supported and the controller can be updated with new software downloaded from the internet. You should not, of course, infringe copyright by copying commercially produced music discs.

5. Your competitors offer towers with a built in hard drive. Why don't you?
In theory, a built in hard drive lets you store disc image files within the duplicator for disks which will be produced again at a later date, thereby avoiding the need for a master disk. We can add a hard drive to any of our towers for an extra £99 but WE DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. This is because the process of copying files to and from the hard drive has to be done with just two buttons and a menu driven LCD display. This is slow, fiddly and prone to error. Our customers find that keeping a set of master discs is a more efficient and secure solution.

6. How do I know that the copies are OK without trying to read them all?
Switch on the VERIFY function. This checks each disc against your master as it is copied and rejects any disc containing errors.

7. What type of blank discs do I need?
You should use a top quality inkjet printable disc. All inkjet printable discs should have a specially formulated surface which makes them compatible with inkjet inks. THIS IS IMPORTANT. For small batches you should buy discs in plastic cases but for larger copying jobs it can be very time consuming when you have to break the shrink wrap on every disc and remove it from the case before copying. In these cases buy discs without cases. Cases can be purchased separately. WE RECOMMEND THAT CUSTOMERS TRY A SMALL QUANTITYOF BLANK DISCS TO ENSURE COMPATIBILITY BEFORE PURCHASING LARGE QUANTITIES.

8. Can I copy DVD Movies?
Not commercially produced ones. Of course, it is illegal to copy any copyrighted material for resale or hire etc. In order to copy a commercial DVD movie you would require a DVD copier fitted with AUTHORING DVd drives and not the GENERAL PURPOSE drives fitted as standard. The cost of a single authoring drive is currently around £3,000. If you create your own movie and write it to a general purpose DVD-R disk this CAN be copied.

9. Can I replace the drives in your click & burn towers with faster drives at a later date?
The current disk controllers will support drives up to 40 speed. The controllers will no doubt be made faster as the speed of drives increases and you could therefore replace the controller and the drives at a later date.

10. CD writers are now cheap. So why do duplicators cost so much?
A CD duplicator is not just a series of drives. It contains a very expensive microprocessor controller which manages the transfer of date to multiple drives. In addition it is important to use the very best quality components with low failure rates to ensure that the duplicator will be reliable. We routinely purchase additional drives which are held in stock indefinitely to ensure that any drives which develop a fault can be promptly replaced with an identical item.

12. Will a DVD copier also copy CD's?
Yes. But they tend to be slower than a dedicated CD copier.