DVD vs. DVD-R
 

I'm pricing out DVD duplication for a project I'm currently working on. What do you think about DVD vs. DVD-R duplication? The budget could possibly grow to meet the costs of DVDs (as opposed to the more consumer DVD-R) but I'm wondering how necessary the upgrade is at this point. Are there still compatibility issues with some DVD players and the official "DVD" duplication?

Hi Emily,

I recently got 30 disks done on to DVD-R. We only had 1 returned back to us because it did not work.

If you can afford it I would replicate to DVDs.

I'm with Ed on this one. If you can afford it, go with "proper" DVD - it does not have compatibility problems with players, because the players were designed to play proper discs.

Burned discs (DVD-R. -RW, +R, +RW) all use a material with a lower reflectance, leading some older players to fail to read them.

It's worth noting that some older players, and some newer ones too (especially the very cheap ones available today) can have problems with very interactive discs or discs with large amounts of precommand and postcommand instructions. This can vary from loooong delays while doing the calculations/navigation through to crashing.

Regards,

Julian

Emily,

In light of the technical differences pointed out by others, you need to decide if you want DVD duplication to be a "Core Competency" of your business. If you do, you should be prepared to step up to the expense of being 'competent' which may require a substantially greater captial expense.

With FedEx and and so many businesses that already have established this as a core competency, you have to make a pretty strong estimate in your marketing analysis that demand will justify the expense. Do you estimate a significant increase in demand in this aspect of your business. Yes, go for it; No, outsource it.

Something to also think about is life expectancy for your DVDs. If you go DVD-Rs with stickers you might have a shorter lifespan.

Duplication is using recordable media. Not sure what it is you want to upgrade? are you talking about getting DLT set-up? or authoring drive?

As Ed & Julian said replication is the way to go if your projects allow it and using DLT masters is the industry standard.

Jake