CD DVD Duplication Replication Advice and Tips Blog by DiscMasters

American Idol was on in the background last night when I heard a name and voice that sounded familiar. It took a moment but then it hit me - it was Luke Menard from Chapter 6, a band we’ve worked with for many years.

I think it was back in 2001 when Luke first contacted us with a CD replication project for his a capella group Chapter 6. Not too long after, Luke called us again with a Christmas CD release, and then a re-order of the first project. Later there was a live DVD. Then more re-orders. This was all before Chapter 6’s biggest release, Swing Shift - a true vocal tour de force.

I can tell you from personal experience that Luke is not only a very talented vocalist, but a stand-up guy as well. The authenticity he showed in front of the American Idol judges is a true representation of the man himself. We wish him all the best as the field narrows further. Luke certainly has our vote for the next American Idol.

Now back to my Folgers and Krispy Kreme (inside joke). Go Luke Go!

Luke’s Page at AmericanIdol.com | photo credit American Idol

Next week it will be made official by Toshiba. An unnamed source inside the company states:

“We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business,” said the source, who asked not to be identified. He added that an official announcement could come as early as next week.

This all follows on the heels of Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart putting their retail muscle exclusively behind the blu-ray format. A substantial price cut of Toshiba’s HD DVD players was too little too late. Scrapping production of their players and leaving the industry will cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

source: Reuters

iTunes is great, but…

a few months ago an old colleague/friend who I hadn’t heard from for a couple of years called me about his upcoming CD release:

“…sounds great Steve. When will you have the master finished?”, I asked
“Actually we finished it last summer, but”
“So you’ve been sitting on it?”
“No, we tried the iTunes music store route and it’s been going nowhere fast!”
“Hmmm, honestly Steve I’ve heard that one a lot lately…” Read More →

If you are having DVD playback problems with the disc you just burned… read on, this is for you! Unrecognized media, skipping, or DVD playback that freezes randomly can be caused by a number of reasons. The most common playback problem for digital video is typically the compatibility of the recordable media itself. Many older DVD players (and YES, some newer models as well) have older firmware inside them that was programmed years BEFORE the newer DVD formats ever existed — much like an mp3 file in 1985 (yes we had computers back then), but none of them would have known how to playback an mp3 song!

Same holds true with older DVD players. Read More →

1. Burn your master no faster than 8x speed. Every disc has errors, whether it’s duplicated or replicated. Burning your master at speeds faster than 8x increases the number of errors in your disc. It may still play fine, but the higher number of errors means your final manufactured cds or dvds will be more susceptible to skips when scratched. A disc with very few errors can survive rough treatment and still play fine.
2. Choose high quality media. All blank discs are NOT created equal.
3. Don’t burn from a laptop running on battery power.
4. Always finalize the disc. You want to choose the options “Disc At Once (DOA)” and “Close Disc”
5. Close other applications when burning. Creating your master for duplication should be the only thing your computer is doing. Other programs working in the background can interrupt the data stream going to your burner.