Blu-ray Dimensions

Blu-ray duplicator auto-loaders provide a means of recording a large number of recordable Blu-ray discs unattended.  In most cases the disc duplicator has the ability to reject discs if they fail to record.  One or two systems do not have a means of dealing with rejects and they just stop working.  Some have a buzzer to alert you.

MF Digital Director 2602 PRO 2 Drive Blu-ray Duplicator Publisher

There are two classes of duplication equipment.  Blu-ray duplicator autoloaders are systems that run in a duplication “burning” mode.  They do not have the ability to print on the disc.  This is not necessarily a disadvantage.  It depends on the amount being reproduced.  Using a separate printer autoloader is a good bet for efficiency.  Duplicators and printers run a different speeds and in a larger job this costs time.  Auto loader duplicators employ robotics to move discs around from the input spindle to the recorder tray and then removing it to place it in the output bin or printer tray if so equipped.

The second type of Blu-ray auto-loader is the printer equipped model called a “disc publisher” or just plan “publisher”.  The disc printer is integrated, or “attached” to the duplicator autoloader to keep it calibrated so when the robotics drops a disc into the printer it goes in right or not on the floor. This also goes for the unloading process.  There is nothing worse then dropping expensive recordable Blu-ray discs on the floor. The Blu-ray duplicator publisher provides a complete method of recording and printing CD, DVD and BD-R,  BD-RE

Blu-ray printers include:

Rimage Prism thermal Printer:The Prism Plus uses direct thermal printing to apply a resin/wax based coating down in various colors.  Multi-color printing is possible with the Prism but it has a dithered appearance that many people find unacceptable.  It does bold graphics well and text looks very sharp and crisp.  Much like silk screening.

MF Digital Picojet:The Picojet inkjet printer uses ink to apply a dye to the surface of the Blu-ray disc. Inkjet printing uses a special surface that has been applied to the surface of the printable BD-R which also gives It gives an excellent print quality with the one exception that it is not “waterproof”.  That is the ink will run on the disc after being exposed to moisture.

With the proper disc coating techniques we are sure to see the thermal retransfer and dye sublimation discs in a very short while.  This would then include the Rimage Everest III and Everest 600.  The Teac P-55 dye sublimation disc printer from Teac is also included in this category.  The P-55 can print in thermal retranfer mode and “photo” which uses dye sublimation.  Dye sublimation vaporizes the ink and directs the pixels in a very fine resolution.

So as you can see there are many things to consider when choosing a Blu-ray duplication system. In some of our upcoming posts we will discuss the different methods used to move the discs from point A to point B.

CD Dimensions Blu-ray disc duplicator

Blu-ray duplicator towers offer the ability to record on Blu-ray format, BD-R, BD-RE, BD-R DL, BD-RE DL, DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD+/-R Dual Layer, CD-R, CD-RW.  In many ways they resemble their DVD duplicator counterpart with the exception of some under the hood upgrades.

Typically this includes a  SATA Disc controller, SATA 500Gb hard drive and SATA Blu-ray combo drives. The  SATA interface simplifies cable management compared to IDE with narrower cables and smaller connectors.  SATA interface supports cables as long as 90cm without sacrificing data integrity and system reliability.

The disc image is uploaded to the hard drive on board the Blu-ray duplicator and then you load the recordable media into the recorders. The tower allows editing of the image and hard drive partition file name. The “Dynamic” hard drive partition system saves hard drive space by creating partitions according to the image size. The intelligent controller automatically recognizes the source disc format. In the case of rewritable Blu-ray media (BD-RE) the duplicator automatically formats the disc if required.

The brains of the Blu-ray duplicator tower is the user friendly disc duplication controller utilizing familiar “ESC” & “ENT” keys with tactile feedback for easy menu navigation. The controller also has password protection modes to prevent unauthorized usage. Dual-Level Security provides separate Startup and Setup passwords for complete restriction and protection against unauthorized users.  The Blu-ray duplicator is upgradable via firmware using a recorded CD to transfer the new firmware.  These systems are fully standalone and do not require an additional computer to run it. Language support includes English, Spanish, Portuguese, & Japanese.

One of the concerns with any new technology is it’s return on investment.  Blu-ray duplicators are not a single format tool.  They cover all common optical formats and recordable Blu-ray disc. The Blu-ray duplicators offer SATA which helps increase cooling efficiency by utilizing narrow cables which also can be longer in length then the DVD duplicator standard: ATAPI or what is also called “PATA” for Parallel ATA.  “SATA” or Serial ATA is the new standard for computers because of it’s data throughput for hard drives and will dominate the market as production increases for all the components.

You may wonder what are the advantages of Blu-ray duplication over Blu-ray replication?  Simply put there are many licensing fees associated with the Blu-ray video high definition format.  This includes per title fees specific to replicated Blu-ray discs.  Advanced Access Content System (AACS) cost per title is in the thousands of dollars. Blu-ray duplication does not require the mandatory AACS license.   Blu-ray duplication is much more cost effective for short run production.