Lots of people don’t fully realize the difference between replication and duplication inside the CD / DVD industry. Media replication vs duplication each one has it’s benefits and drawbacks. To be aware of what to choose for your needs lets explain the real difference:
Replication
Beginning with a glass master, your discs are replicated by “stamping” your data into melted polycarbonate as is also molded.
- Ideal for large quantities
- Playable on all readable devices
Beginning with a glass master which contains the data for that disc, a metallic stamper is made. The stamper is loaded in to a molding machine and polycarbonate is injected into the mold thereby manufacturing the disc while using data “stamped” to the disc. The mastered information is then protected by layers of polycarbonate plastic. This will make it lacquered, usually screened, and ultimately packaged. Since most of this process is automated, the charge per unit becomes considered and intensely affordable on orders generally more than 1000 pieces. Normally, your data side of the CD replication disc is prismatic shiny aluminum with no color in the plastic like recordable discs have.
Duplication
Starting with blank recordable discs, your discs are duplicated by “burning” important computer data onto them.
- Ideal for smaller quantities
- Quickest turn times
You start with pre-manufactured blank recordable discs, the information is “burned” to the discs 1 by 1. When quantities between 25 and 900 are expected, a “duplicator” is employed. Your details is digitally extracted from your master source (usually a master CD-R or DVD-R) and transferred to the blank discs. Your data is typically verified along with the copy then accepted or rejected. The data side of a recordable disc commonly has a little color into it, (yellow, green, blue, or purple, with respect to the kind of media.)
There is little difference from each of these methods about the finished product. Both processes extract your data in the identical method. The largest factor on choosing weather to CD duplication or replicate is the quantity you would like to make. Replication is usually used by quantities over 1,000 and dvd duplicator is used for anything less then that. If you have some other questions on which solution to use please e mail us


