Re: Replication Delivery Requirements

Thank you Eric. It is true as I have heard from many of our new customers that their old replicator did nothing to the extent that we do for our clients. It is for 1 reason that they do not, and that is because they think they are saving money. This is simply not true and ends up hurting them in the long run. In this business Time is Money, but if you don't have time to do it right at first, then when will you have time to correct it? This is our philosophy. Do it right the first time rather than waste time doing it wrong and having to do it again.

When selecting a replicator there are a few things they should do. I have a feeling people do not know what happens when they send their master off to a replication plant. Here is what we do.

1. Virus scan every master. I saved a major client of ours not only humiliation but 40,000 CD's and 40,000 potentially pissed off customers because their master had a virus.

2. Put the DVD master in all available DVD players. Yes we accept DVD-Video masters and I will tell you why. What do you think happens when a stamper goes bad during the run or even after its 3rd or 4th run and a new stamper is needed. Our library of masters would take up half of our 30 some thousand square foot building. They use the previous run to premaster from. Yes a DVD-Video disc. It is a pressed disc, but Image Verify the DVD-R to the DVD pressing and guess what, no verification errors. They are a bit-to-bit copy. That is why we only keep CSS masters. We have a CSS storage room that we keep DLT's, DDP on DVD-R masters. Any DDP on HD get copied to a DVD-R through Eclipse.
Some will say that the drives that are used with Eclipse have better error correction than most DVD players. This is true. Eclipse only has a few certified drives to use. But If your master has some performance issues on the way in and even stutters when played back, this does not mean it will be on the replicate as long as it passes Eclipse Image copy w/verify on. Case and point, every now and then we have a customer submit their master and it stutters like hell in the DVD player. Used Image copy to create a new master and it was fixed. This is because of cheap media or a burner on its way out. However the data was written to the disc and with the expensive drives (with better error correction) we use it was able to recover the data without problems. And I have no problem sending this master to glass mastering. Trust me if I thought it would be a problem I wouldn't have a job right now.
I check *most* links on a DVD to make sure they work. If I find something wrong, the job goes on hold and the customer is notified. Remember though I am not your mom, check your work before you send it. If I do find an abnormality with the program I use numerous tools to check the authoring structure. Then I send an email to the customer and explain what is wrong and how to fix.
Now off to stamper land.

3. After the stamper is created we analyze the stamper for flaws and defects. This is not too important for you but at least if a stamper is bad it will not make it to the mold. Not a big deal if something is wrong with the stamper it will show on the pressed disc.

4. After pressing the first couple discs they are placed in a CATS system. If there is an E32 error on a CD or a POF error on a DVD it gets rejected immediately and pulled from the mold. These errors are not from your master. these are from an issue when the stamper was made, or the wrong process (parameters) are loaded into the DVD process. If your replicator does not stop the job after an E32 or POF GO FIND A NEW REPLICATOR! If it passes, another pressing is CATS tested. Yes our CATS systems always have a pressing in them. It takes a few hours for testing, so when the next disc goes in you have almost 2000 discs pressed! If a stamper goes bad in the middle of each test we don;t lose as many discs. If you only test once and the stamper goes bad during a 50,000 piece run, it will take you a while to find out where in the run it went bad.

5. So now your master has passed in Eclipse, stamper passed, CATS passed, then off to QA. Find out what your replicators QA checks for, if anything. Our QA dept first does an Eclipse Image Verify from the pressing to the original Source master. This proves that what came out is exactly bit-for-bit-what went in. Then they watch the video. Not for macroblocking or any sort of editing mistake (it is up to you as an author to check your own work!! That is being professional. don't burn your master and throw it in the mail without checking over and over first.) If we do find macroblocking or they find something abnormal with the pressed master, once again the job goes on hold and the customer is notified. If nothing is wrong, off to be screen printed, packaged and shipped.

That is the process of CD and DVD manufacturing.

Now send off your master on DDP on DVD-r's, DLT, DDP on HD, Video_TS, Wamnet, Exabyte, FTP, DVD-R DL, whatever your replicator takes. Just investigate your replicator before you send your stuff to them. If they do good checks and verifications throughout the process then you should have no worries. Always get a check disc on a DVD-9. Always check your own work before you send it. Do not go through brokers, they are ripping you off and usually have no clue what they are talking about. And when in doubt send your shit to Sony, Cinram, Technicolor, or Sonopress.

-Luke