Pick your brain about DVD duplication

[kspoor]

Finished my video with SpeedEDIT (which went very smoothly... especially running off a laptop!) Great stability on my system and I can not say the same for other NL software I have used in the past - which senses a rush-session and crashes often... weird but true!

Encoded the MPEG2 with TEMPGEnc 2.5 which ended up looking great! Thanks for the settings!!

Now the client wants a small run of about 1300 copies! Finished video is 12 minutes.

Anybody have some great wisdom as to options?

I have looked into acquiring a Microboards 1>10 CopyWriter premium duplication tower - anyone have experience with this or make a recommendations as to who to purchase it from?

Or should I be looking to an outside source for replication? If so - again recommendations? It is a needle in a haystack on the WWW.

Or does this type of job just get ugly and stay that way...??

I believe that the client will come back for more as they like to "test the water" first then order, order, order...

Thank you

-K

[bbeanan]

anything over 1000 copies should be sent out it would cost you more to do it yourself at that point.
Also when you do place your order always add 10% to the qty. so that if one or two DVDs are bad you are ok... if the client comes back and says I need an extra copy you are ok...
But it you really want to look like a great guy and get tons more buiness from them, have them order the DVD replication online themself. Since it is such an easy process say "I know how tight budgets are so I was going to reccomend that you place the order directly with www.INSERTWEBSITEHERE.com that will save you the markup I would have to charge you" Why you ask well if you client is smart you will quote them say $1 per dvd and about 2 seconds later they will be on the web where they will find teaser prices of $0.52 per DVD then they are pissed at you for ripping them off (which you are not since the "teaser" rate does not include everything)

[ScorpioProd]

I definitely agree completely, 1000 or more you should do replication, not burned duplication.

As for suggesting they do it themselves, well... Personally, I wouldn't recommend that. They are coming to YOU for a service, and it is better for you if you can provide that whole service, in terms of keeping them as a client, IMHO.

If you want a burning duplication tower, I've been happy with what I've gotten from Copystars.com. I always found Microboards to be overpriced for what they are.

[lcress]

Definitely send it out. I've had good luck with EDisc in Denver - www.edisc.com. They have downloadable templates for the DVD face and the 4 Color insert. Just load them into Photoshop, create your graphics, ship your master and you should have your finished job in a couple of weeks.

One caveat about the DVD graphics - make sure you convert to CMYK before sending it in.

[CallMeStupid]

For your info, New Cyberian Systems in San Jose CA also offers pretty good service for DVD replication (http://www.newcyberian.com/dvd5rom.html). We used them for our school promotional DVD and the quality was great.

Kaitlyn
----------------------
Proud student of CMSU

[Dufusyte]

Replicated DVD's can bear the official DVD logo, and they tend to be more compatible than burned DVD's.

I've heard good things about discmakers.com (http://discmakers.com) and pacificdisc.com (http://pacificdisc.com)

[bbeanan]

I figured that comment would get a few of you going... having the client take care of it... but here is what I do I still take care of it 100% but have the client pay directly for it... now it depends on the client 1 client I have their AR dept is so hard to deal with that yes I would do it all charge them my 20% markup and everyone is happy... But now days most of my clients jump online and "Try" to double check all of my prices... so to avoid this hang up on highly competitive items I just let them pay directly.
Sure I lose out on my mark-up but I keep a client long term as most of them see it as Brett is a nice guy he went out of his way to save our budget at the last minute... You see most companies I work with will actually raise my production budget as they can put the replication into a more "general" account budget.
It's just a little trick that has worked well for me...

[ted]

Brett, I also have seen that now days clients often go on the web and compare prices. I let them know if they can beat my price, (for something that is hardly worth my time anyways) "Go for it". :D

I recently got a quote for $1 DVD duplication including DVD, Label, and case with picture insert.
If my clients want me to beat that....HA! :D Let them deal with the rejects and issues dealing with the "cheapest guy".

I supply profesional hassle free service. And there is a price for that. :thumbsup:

[kspoor]

Ted,

Did you do replication through an outside company or duplication in-house.

And what would you do for a 1,300 copy order?? In-house or send out??

I agree with you - about fees associated with handling clients needs.

-K

[bbeanan]

exactly... not worth the hasle also why I stopped even trying to sell LCDs or Plasma screens not worth the may $50 profit when 6 months from now their cable goes out and they call you saying the TV is broken.

Like I said it all depends on the client... the cheap ones will be a pain so let them do what they want (they will pay in the end) The ones whom know how business work forcus on them...

I tell most of my clients "I WILL NOT be your cheapest solution, but I will be your BEST solution... I repeat I will not be the cheapest" I also do not play the whole we need 3 bids game... normally I just say great get your 2 other bids and let me know what your budget is I will let you know if I can do it.

[ted]

K, at this point we send orders over 20 to outside services.
We are considering doing this in-house as we now have 3 projects needing over 1,000 DVD's each. But this isn't typical.

The current rate of DVD dubs isn’t worth our time. To financially make this move we would need an in-house PA, but temp workers rarely deliver the perfection I insist on. :thumbsdow So more gigs will be the decision maker for us.

BEWARE: :hey: I received an offer from one “unknown company” offering to do DVD dubs for $1 each.
This included DVD Printing, hard case with Printed insert.
I would strongly suggest getting samples before sending any of your clients work to another company. Preferably a file from your facility so you are comparing apples to apples. Pay a few bucks if you need to.

In short, :D Don't be afraid to sub it out until the return on investment makes sense. And don’t be afraid to let a cheap client get it done himself.
Good luck.

[wvp]

I've used Produplicator.com for several dupe machines and had good results. But I still wouldn't do in house for that amount of copies. Even for a few hundred (which I do regularly) you typically need a 10 bay tower & a auto printer.

With regard to what Brett said... I had a client who wanted about 1000 disks of something we were working on. Dual Layer (it was a big project) and possibly copy protected. I put her in touch with a replication house and told her what things to ask about. In the end she came to me because it was too much for her to handle. So you never know.