Just wondering if any of you guys use a duplicator.
Im interested in getting maybe a 10 DVD drive one.
I have no experience whatsoever with them.
Id be hoping to burn 10 dual layer dvds at a time.
Any pitfalls i should know about before shopping?
Thanks as usual,
Ger.

I have a 3 tray robotic burner. I place up to 100 discs in it, and it burns them. I also can have it compare the finished discs. I really like the ability to slow down the burn time without taking up my time. the biggest drawback with mine is figuring out what to do with all my extra time. :)
I have only shipped about 500 discs from it so far. it rejects about 3% of my media.
I have not yet had a customer complaint.
I do not burn dual layer at this time (although it is capable of it)

yes unless delivery time is tight (like delivering the disc at the end of a same day edit event, then you need to burn all your discs in the last hour), robotic with at least 2 drives are better.
it is slower, but does not require attention (even for printing if required).
multiburners tower are great but you have to stand in front of it until all your disc are burned for the next reload.
robotic can burn while you do something else (even sleeping), so on the overall they are more efficient.

We have 4 old PCs each fitted with 4 Burners. Using NERO to burn as there you specify to burn to multiple burners. Just recently did 3000 copies in 2 days. Another PC drives 6 iP4500 printers for printing the labels.
Good thing is everytime we pick up a old machine it gets re-furbished and fitted with another 4 burners and should anything go wrong with one burner just pull it out trash it and replace just a single unit. Cheap and efficient

My robotic burner is a 16x burner, three at a time. I can burn 3000 in two days if needed, and only refill the spindle every few hours. I prefer to burn slower, and verify the burn. If one of my trays go bad, i simply throw it away and put in another one, it uses the same hard drive, dvd drives, powers supply, etc as the pc.
It has not yet failed, so I can not speak of mechanical issues.
I used to burn using a pc, my time became to valuable.
another option is to hire someone else to make the copies for you. there are lots of duplication houses, maybe there is one near enough to you to get the jobs done efficiently

Thanks guys,
what kind of money are we talking about for these robotic ones?
Id imagine quite a bit.
Theres not a whole lot online about them here.
Realistically I wouldn't mind making the switch every 15 minutes or so if it was 10 dvds at a time.
As for 4, i think its still not enough. Although the concept of Using nero on multiburn is great.
Just out of curiosity Bjorn, is it internal or external drives you add to the machine?

The one I have is pricey, I did not need one to do labels, and I wanted something with industrial strength, not just a consumer desktop. also, they have a repair facility within driving distance of my house. it runs 1800 US dollars right now, although a quick search found a brand new open box for 1100 at newegg
Newegg.com - Open Box: VINPOWER Black 3 Targets 100 Disc Capacity 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW TITAN lite DVD Duplicator with Pioneer Drive Model VP1-DPIO316-BK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827196057R)
I think Björn Rehder meant he had 4 old pc's with 4 burners each for a total of 16? That's a viable option, if you don't mind changing discs.

I use a Disc Makers ElitePro2 robotic duplicator. It has 2 drives and an input capacity of about 175 disks (duplicating and printing.) I use it for all duplication jobs, from one to 1,000 disks. I just log on using remote desktop, select the .iso file and the image file for the disk lable and click "go". It'll do as much as 250 DVDs a day, but I always have it verify each disk, so that cuts the throughput in half. I always use Taiyo Yuden premium disks and I've never had a bad disk. Ever.

It cost me a bit more than $1600, but worth every penny.

http://www.famousdavispro.com/89/2008/5/23/Meet-Our-Robot.aspx

Thanks for the video chris.
That is seriously cool stuff.Now I want one.
The crazy part is i'd probably sit there watching that gizmo all
day doin its thing :)

Ger, I was already busy, now you are making me want a video of my robot....
maybe greenscreen behind it...

Ger - Yes internal drives.
I just confirmed with our duplication studio the setup is as follows:
(a mix of IDE & SATA drives)

One DVD burner per IDE (pref master)

IDE0 = DVD1
IDE1 = DVD2
SATA0 = DVD3
SATA1 = DVD4

And use NERO version 7.0.0.0 (Supports up to 4 burners - if you find software that supports more please let me know)
I suppose you could use external drives but Nero supprts only 4 drives so adding the 5th one via USB is not gonna help.

Although IMGBURN does not support multidrives it is a good option to use as burning software as it also supports DVD+R DL. Check here: The Official ImgBurn Website (http://www.imgburn.com/)

Yes you will be busy changing discs manually but this is a fast and affordable solution to duplicate discs.

duplicate submitted

nero support more than 4 drives, but you have to purchase a special license.
(it is all in the serial number, so the software must be the same.)
Look in the registry for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ahead\Nero - Burning Rom\Recorder and see if there is a string value for "MultipleRecorders". with system with 2 burners this string is present with a hex value of 00000001 (same as decimal 1).
I think Standard Nero is limited to 7 burners at a time, but this could vary with the Nero version used.
Itdepends too if you burn CD or DVD and at what speed.

I don't even bother getting a print robot, replication here is very cheap and very high quality. Received yesterday 1000 copies that had been replicated by a dvd print company at 1,4 euro per disc, meaning complete with color print on the dvd, dvdbox and full cover boxcover and delivered to any address I choose in Belgium. Since they are replicated they would even play if you place them on your old record player. :)

It would be more expensive getting a robot and doing it myself

Replication is also very cheap here (1k disks for about $800, including full color labeling and cases) but most don't use a duplicator for projects of that size. Duplicators are typically used for short run projects that are needed immediately. Most of my projects are 50 to 100 disks each.

It's just like the printing industry - I can get 1,000 full color glossy handouts for $250, but that doesn't stop me from using my color laser daily.

The concept of delivering "next day" is still not possible if outsourcing.
the best i can do by ordering such services is few days.

The idea of outsourcing is very appealing. Im going to need about 20 copies+ per event.
I must make a few phone calls and see what I can find.

I have the Primera Bravo II printer/burner, which works most of the time but has occasional hiccups. I usually burn duplicates as I'm in the office because it's frustrating to hit go as you leave overnight to burn 50 copies and come in the next morning to see that it got 4 discs in and froze.