What is the difference between Replication and Duplication?
CD duplication is the process of making a glass master from a pre-mastered image, creating stampers from the master, then pressing discs with the stamper using injection molding of raw polycarbonate plastic. CD duplication requires millions of dollars worth of equipment, a specialized dust free environment, and highly trained technicians. Because of the initial set-up cost, this method is best suited to runs of 500 or more. Replicated discs are more reliable and more durable than duplicated ones. They are also significantly less expensive in anything other than the smallest quantities. CD duplication is the ocess that uses pre-molded CD-R’s which have a laser sensitive organic dye layer embedded under the reflective layer. When it is recorded, the laser “burns” the dye so that some parts reflect light and some parts absorb the incoming light. Duplication produces many copies of a disc at once. Duplicators use CD-R media, and usually a bank of recorders controlled by a single processor.
Duplicated discs are writable discs that can be copied in small quantities. The process of duplicating is the same as it is on a desktop computer. The information or video is burned on to a blank disc. Duplicated discs can be made in any amount in as fast as one day. Duplicated DVD-R discs will play back in most new DVD decks and computers, but they are not as reliable or compatible as replicated discs. Replicated discs are injection molded from scratch in very expensive replicators. Replication discs are more reliable and considered “retail ready” discs. The main drawback to replication is that it requires a minimum order of 1,000 discs and takes about 10 business days. Replicated discs play in all players and are highly recommended for large quantity orders.
