Here at Duplication Centre we offer the fastest service of any in the industry.
We have 24 hour turnaround and in some instances if you talk to us…faster than that.
We always try to help customers if they get in a tight spot š
It’s always worth giving us a call …if we can help we will; sometimes customers will come and collect their orders directly from us to save time.
Give us a call if you need help or advice.
Back Pain Instructional DVD
Whilst posting on Social Media I reflected on the huge diverstity of customers we have at Duplication Centre.
Its fantastic that we can work with so many interesting customers:
Instructional DVD’s for a whole host of topics: Fishing,Pilates, Back Pain Cure, Painting, Guitar tuition…. to name but a few.
CDs for School, CDs for both Solo Artists and Bands, Gospel Music, Prayer Casts, Self Help CDs, Mediation CD’s, Blank DVD’s for Photographers & Videographers,Theatre Prodcutions,University Graduation Ceremonies, Buskers, Fund raising/charity CDs.
Each project has its own special interest and purpose and makes our work both interesting and fulfilling.
Call us if you need help or advice with your project or get an instant quotation online:
This is the third and final article by Mark Smith our Director of Technology here at Duplication Centre; helping you to understand some of the terminology and abbreviations used in the industry.
Unlike the disc image formats above, these are just individual audio files used by computers. They require ‘Authoring’ to a disc. Authoring a CD means taking the audio (in any of the formats) and writing it into a format and structure a simple CD player can understand and play
These are high quality audio files, very similar to standard CD-Audio. This is a very common format used in recording studios .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV
AIFF is practically identical to WAV, but this format was developed by Apple in the late 80’s. Another very common format in recording studios.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Interchange_File_Format
This is a digital music format created for sending audio over the internet. The great attraction of the MP3 format is its ability to compress files, allowing them to use much less space. Technically lower quality than the above audio formats, but not really in any noticeable way
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3
The Free Lossless Audio Codec. This is a newer format which is able to compress audio to take up space just like an MP3, but does so in a ‘lossless’ way. This means the audio quality should not be degradedĀ in any way, but the file size will be noticeably smaller. A useful format that has only seen uptake in technical and audiophile community.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC
This section may appear a bit short, but I had to draw the line somewhere.Ā Ā There are a very large number of video formats that have existed over the years, far too many to discuss here. In practice there are 2 very common ones.
All video formats will require ‘Authoring’ to make a standard DVD-Video disc (OR a Blu-Ray-Video disc) to be player in a standard player.Ā Simply burning a video file on a disc will not necessarily allow it to play in a standard player.
A modern high quality video format widely used in consumer and professional markets.
Another modern high quality video format widely used in consumer and professional markets. Developed by Apple.
This article is the second in our series to help you understand some of the terminology used in the duplication process
Beware, we are now moving into the area of artwork and the word image no linger relates to a disc image! When talking about artwork, and image is simply a picture, a graphic or photograph
PDF stands for āportable document format.ā Adobe Systems designed this format, which has become the standard for exchanging electronic documents. Its a very complex and powerful format used extensively in artwork design and printing, perfect for supplying your artwork supporting the other artwork formats below, as well as special print formats, colours and vector graphics.
These image formats are ideal for photos and similar images containing many colours offering good quality and acceptable sizes are possible. The quality / file size of a jpeg can be altered through the use of compression.
The three formats all vary slightly in the way they apply compression to the images, each with its own advantages. For printing its best to keep the compression at a minimum so the files are larger and better quality.
This format is only used by the graphics programs Photoshop. The files are generally large and contain lots of additional information and layers which are not needed for print. The complexity of the files make them perfect for editing and designing, BUT not ideal for printing. You should save your artwork to PDF or JPEG when ready to submit for printing.
To learn more about artwork formats this article is a good place to start, offering beginner guides to the various types:Ā Further information on artwork formats.
As in most Industries there are many terms and abbreviations which are used in duplication, that have become part of our ordinary language. For the uninitiated these terms can sometimes appear complicated and a bit daunting. This is especially true of file formats as some terms are used to define different entity’s even when working in the same markets!
Our Director of Technology Mark Smith has written a series for articles that we will publish over the next 3 weeks explainingĀ some of the most used terms,in relation the the optical media (CD, DVD and Blu-Ray) market. With links for more detailed explanations:
This simply means a hard copy CD or DVD which we can use to duplicate from.
The type of images here are not photographic images. The term relates to a ‘snapshot’ of the contents of a disc, the format and the exact layout.
The most important thing when working with disc images is you are sure you have formatted them correctly. Failing to do this will result in any discs made from them to be faulty. If there is any doubt, or you are new to this area, ask for help and advice. We have a team here who are always available for email, phone or online chat and will be very happy to help and advise you.
An .iso image is a computer file that is an exact copy of an existing file system. ISO files are typically created through a software application that will extract the contents of a CD or DVD, and then write then as an exact electronic copy of the original disc to a file (a .iso file). This allows us to burn to burn an exact copy of the original onto CD or DVD.
Iso files are perfectly acceptable for CD-Rom and DVD-Video, but should not be used for CD-Audio due to technical restrictions
This format is very similar to a .ISO image with a few subtle changes and features which are beyond the scope of this article. For our purpose they can be used the same as an ISO, but more in depth information can be found inĀ this article should you wish to learn more.
Like ISO files, .img should not be used for CD-Audio discs.
These files are a relatively new proprietary optical disc image file format. NRG files are used in the same way as other image formats, but are a more advanced and very versatile.
NRG files can be used for any type and format of disc, CD-ROM, CD-Audio, DVD-Video, Blu-Ray, etc.
This stands for Disc Description Protocol and is commonly used for delivery of disc pre-masters for commercial Glass Master Replication. The DDP format is compatible with all CD and DVD discs and is the industry professional format used in mass manufacture of discs. Although becoming more common, its a relatively unknown format used mainly within the optical media industry for transporting discs electronically between production facility’s and mastering houses.
DDP files can be accepted the same as all other listed image formats for duplication, but are not a specific requirement in any way. Further more detailed information on this format isĀ available here.
This is a versatile image file format particularly useful for CD-Audio. The consist of two files,
Each of the Bin & Cue files are meaningless on their own, and must be provided together with their specific andĀ matching partner, never mixed or edited. Further information of this file type can beĀ found here.
At Duplication Centre we are sending out an increasing amount of sustainable card products which minimises the necessity for using a massive amount of plastic bubblewrap.
We do however still send lots of plastic and potentially breakable products and the reality is however much fragile tape you put on a parcel, they can sometimes get some rough treatment by the couriers!!!
Our priority is to get orders to customers in the perfect condition that they leave us, so good packing is important.
All this said we still try to reuse and recycle as much as we can :
*Boxes from incoming products are reused to double box giving amazing transit protection.
*Sourcing card boxes from other local businesses that would other wise be discarded.
*Reuse of mailite or bubble bags for outgoing samples and proofs.
It can be time consuming to recycle but we think it’s worth it .
Always trying to take responsibility for our own foot print.
We have started to share Amazing Artwork and Important News on Instagram.
Dont miss out on seeing some inspiring and cool art from customers along with Important News and Offers.
Follow us on Instagram..and keep in touch …
.https://www.instagram.com/duplicationcentreltd/
Duplication Centre celebrates 15 years of successful business this year.
We are a family run, small business which allows us to work closely with our customers. As the business has grown we have discovered that probably the most important thing in our work, after producing high quality and professional products, is that we listen to and try to help and advise our customers one to one.
Good communication in any aspect of life is so important and we try to always work with our customers to understand and help them acheive what they want with their order.
We find live chat really helpful along with the phone lines that come directly to experienced staff.
We always aim to respond to emails as quickly as we can and will proactively notify customers if we spot a problem with their order.
If you order this month we are adding 5 Extra Free units, just put FREE5 in the special code box when you check out.
Give us a call or chat online via the website:
Playing our small part and being responsible for our own footprint, is our starting point with environmental issues.
CD, DVD & BluRay has traditionally been a very plastic orientated industry, with the CD Jewell Case and the Standard Plastic DVD box being for many years, the norm for packing and presenting your discs.
Over the last few years, and in conjunction with current responsible thinking we haveĀ beenĀ keen to promote our Eco-Friendly casing options.
We have developed our own templates and sourcedĀ FSC certified Sustainable card stock to provide our customers with a high quality, low price, ecofriendly range for CD, DVD & BluRay packaging.
These include:
CD Lancing Pack with 4 page booklet
Cd single card wallets
As a result of this we have noticed a huge shift in the choice our customers make when deciding on their cases.
Our card wallets by far exceed the popularity of all our plastic options.
At the same time we are very respectful of peoples right to choose and still stock all the traditional case choices. Where possible and where the quality is good enough, we use eco plastic versions like the ecolite Amaray cases for our traditional dvd packaging.These are both fully recycled andĀ recycleable.
All of the templates for designing any of our card products can be found here:
https://www.duplicationcentre.co.uk/artwork-pdf-guidelines.html
This year we celebrate 15 years of successful business.
We grew from a Recording Studio into one of the UK’s leading Duplication Company’s.It has been a great help to us when we work with musicians that we understand the importance and value of each individual recording /duplication order we receive, and have extensive knowledge among our staff who can advise, help and guide you through the process.
As we celebrate our success we are happy to offer 5 FREE units with every order placed until the end of June 2019; just add the words FREE5 in the special code box as you go through the check out.
You can get an instant quote and place your order with ease here: www.duplicationcentre.co.uk.