DVD / CD duplication and DVD / CD replication - What is the difference?

CD and Dreplication vs duplication

What are the main differences between CD&DVD duplication & Replication

1. Costs

Duplication is most cost effective up to 500 units. Replication is more cost effective OVER 1,000 units

2. Volumes

Duplication you can have as few as 1 copy if you really need to. The Replication entry quantity is 1,000 but there is no maximum.

3. Price

Duplication doesnt have the economy of scale that Replication has but the set up costs for Duplication is much less.

4. Lead times

Duplication is a very fast service because the pre run setups are minimal compared to the several process's of the Replication process.

5. Manufacture Method

The Duplication process is the burning of content to a blank Recordable disk. Replication requires several process's just to get to the disc printingstage: Glass Mastering, Stamper creation, Injection moulding from polycarbonate granules. These process's all take time.

Benefits of Duplication & Replication

Simply put Duplication is the process of copying the data/ audio on to blank CDr’s / DVDr's and then printing the artwork on to the top of the disc. It only takes a few days to copy, print and pack the discs because the orders are usually much lower, the set ups are small and the process is quite quick. Any printed parts would be digitally printed (as opposed to litho printed).

The Replication option is more cost effective on larger runs but it takes a lot longer. A  Glass Master is created from your master and through a galvanics process, nickel Stampers are grown from the Glass. The Stamper is then loaded onto a replication line and CD/DVD copies are replicated by pressing the stamper into liquid polycarbonate that is injection molded to the shape of the CD. Once the discs are pressed, metalised, lacqured and UV cured, they will be printed directly to the surface of the silver discs. We can Litho print and Silk screen print to the disc On-Body depending on the look of the design. Any printed parts (Booklets & Inlays, card wallets, Digi-packs) would be Litho printed as opposed to digitally printed as per the low volume Duplication runs.

Final Product comparison

The replication process is sometimes considered the more processional of the two techniques as Replicated discs are favoured for retail however in reality, there is very little difference between a replicated disc and a duplicated disc from Amstore. If the Blank media used to copy the data is a low end option, then playability issues have been known where some older CD/DVD players have not been able to play the discs. This could be a mixed result of the player and the media. Amstore only use the highest quality, Grade 'A' blank media in our production process so we do not experience rejectes.

Because of the speed and flexibility that is needed with the Duplication process, Digital printing technology is favoured for the printing of paper parts instead of  the Litho printing technique that is used for the printing of the paper parts in the Replication process. The Litho printing process of the paper parts follows the same rules as Replication i.e cost effective over 1,000 units but takes longer and has complex pre-printing set ups. The Litho printing of the paper parts takes place whilst the CDs and DVDs are being manufactured, so by the time the discs are manufactured and printed, the print should be ready in time for the discs and print to be married up in the chosen packing. Delays in one element (disc or print) wull mean the order cant get packed often resulting delays.

All of this said, Replication can sometimes be done quicker and Duplication can sometimes take longer so please Contact us today and see how quickly we can turn your order around!