CD Duplication Playability

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Information About Compatibility of Duplicated CD & DVDs
Duplicated CDs and DVDs are a great option for clients who need a small or large number of professional packaged products in a very quick turn-time at a very affordable cost! When choosing duplication, it is important to know about compatibility issues that can sometimes, in rare cases, occur. This is not unique to our duplicated CDs or DVDs, but to CDs and DVDs in general.

Duplication is when music is burned on to an already existing disc. The quality of duplication can vary dramatically depending on the type of discs used, the machines used to burn them and the speed at which they are burned. Ultra Entertainment uses the highest quality Diamond discs (silverback) and the highest quality burning equipment to ensure you have the best possible quality.

With ANY duplicated product, it is important to be aware of potential playability issues. Some CD players can have difficulty tracking on duplicated discs. The majority of duplicated discs and players function without any problems but it can happen on some older CD/DVD player and in rare cases on newer players as well. In general, DVDs are more temperamental that CDs.

DVD & CD Information
Ultra Entertainment currently burns DVDs at 2.4x and CDs at 8x to try to minimize any potential problems with playability. We have run tests and we see the most reliable results at those speeds and have found that reliability starts to gradually fall off at higher burn speeds. We also have an option on our burners to optimize for most players which takes a little longer to burn but worth the extra effort. There are different types of media and some work better in certain players than others. Different CD player manufacturers build their players to slightly different standards this is why you will see the variability in the market. Most of the newest players coming out are pretty reliable with most burned DVDs and CDs.

IMPORTANT - Quality of Your Master
Every time you burn a disc, errors are introduced. Better media burning at a slower speed will introduce the fewest errors. Errors in the burn typically won’t translate into any audible defects. The CD and DVD standards have error correction built in to them to minimize skipping and tracking issues. As players get old and discs get abused by normal wear and tear, it is harder for players to read them. Also, older players may even have a hard time tracking discs without errors for a variety of reasons like a dirty or worn out laser, calibration problems etc. Another important thing to consider is that discs can inherit any flaws in the original master. So as you make a copy of a copy of a copy, the disc error rate increases slightly. When creating your master to send to us be sure to consider all of the recommendations below to create the most reliable disc with the fewest errors:

Send only a first generation disc.
Burn at very slow speeds. 2x, 4x, 8x. Some burners are more compatible with one brand of media over another and burn more reliably at certain speeds. In general, speeds under 8 times will yield the best results.
Use a late model burner with the latest firmware upgrades.
Test your disc in a CD or DVD player to ensure it works reliably.
Utilize testing tools to ensure that you don’t have too many errors. Nero burning software includes testing applications that is compatible with most CD/DVD burners.
Don’t touch or scratch either side of the disc. Handle it by the edges only.
If you are making an audio disc, ensure that you have an actual “Audio” disc and not MP3 or WAV files on a data disc. If you test your CD in an audio player, it typically won’t play if it is not an audio disc. Some newer CD players will play MP3 files, however. If you test in a computer, it will often play a disc full of MP3 files as if it were an audio disc.

Remember that we can only duplicate what you send in. If the disc you send starts out with errors, you will have errors in the copies we make for you. And if we are working from a copy of a copy of a copy…then our copy for you will be yet another step down from the pure form.