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Tips for Mass Printing Blu-rays:
Blu-rays are the same physical size (12cm round) as traditional DVDs and CDs. Therefore, you can usually use your existing printing equipment to print these discs. To produce a professional-looking finished product, we suggest you start off with a high grade, generic Blu-ray recordable. The word “generic” refers to a disc that is just plain silver or white (i.e. no company logos or printing on them). You can purchase generic blu-ray discs from Microforum. Microforum also offers unbranded discs to facilitate printing, and they can even apply a coating to the discs so you can print the discs on your Inkjet printers too (assuming your inkjet printer is capable of printing on discs). Thermal printers, inkjet printers, and silk screening machines designed to print CDs and DVDs will also be capable of printing Blu-ray discs! If you plan on printing more than a couple of hundred discs, your going to be better off sending the job out to a printing company (such as Microforum). The finished product will look better and the cost is usually the same or even less than if you were printing them yourself!
Tips for Authoring and Duplicating Blu-rays:
Adobe Premiere Pro (Encore CS5) is a great package to output your videos to various formats, including Blu-ray (as well as the other optical media formats, such as DVD). You can create professional-quality Blu-ray discs with sophisticated Menus with this package. You can check out Adobe’s website at www.adobe.com for more information on Encore and Premiere. Once you have your master created (note: you will need a bluray recording device attached to your computer and some good quality bluray media), you should test your disc carefully before going any further. Make sure the Menus are working properly and you should always watch the entire show before going to the expense of mass copying!
Tips for preparing Masters for Mass Duplication Blu-ray Media Selection:
Selecting good quality media is the first step to producing a successful pre-master for glass mastering. Microforum is our preferred supplier (www.microforum.ca) because they can supply unbranded bluray discs with a variety of coatings, and they offer bluray disc manufacturing, replication, duplication and silk screening. Using inferior quality media may result in unreadable sectors on the pre-master. Poor media will also increase the number of errors in your pre-master. Errors, in limited numbers, may not adversely affect your master, as they are generally correctable if there aren't too many of them. However, some errors are not correctable and may require the pre-master to be recreated.
Write/Burn Speed:
The speed at which you burn your media can also affect the number and frequency, of C1 errors on your bluray disc. It is recommended that you burn your pre-master at the lowest speed setting available (i.e. 1x or 2x) rather than the maximum rating listed. There are also a variety of Analysis Software Packages that will diagnose the quality of the pre-master - look for a package that will give you information about errors.
IMPORTANT: If you make multiple copies/burns of your master, successfully analyzing the first copy/burn does not mean that the subsequent copies are error free! It is highly recommended that you test the actual copy that you are using or sending out for Duplication.
Note: If you are consistently getting a large number of errors in your pre-mastering, you may have a burner that is not operating at peak efficiency (i.e. it maybe a dust issue, a mechanical problem, or an age issue with the burning device).
Handling Care:
Once the tray on your Burner opens and presents the newly minted copy, care should be taken to prevent dust, fingerprints or scratches from degrading its surface. Do not touch the recorded side of the media with your finger tips and always handle the media by the edges.
Identification/Labeling:
You may want to consider hand-writing your information in the clear plastic area near the hub or use discs with a printable top surface in conjunction with a thermal or inkjet CD printer. We do not recommend applying any kind of label to the surface of your disc. However, if you are extremely careful and accurate (use a label applicator) and use the right kind of label, then it can be acceptable. The wrong kind of label can damage a disc and asymmetric labels may throw the disc out of balance, causing read errors. Never apply a label on top of an existing label. You may want to consider instead of a label, writing directly on the surface of the disc, but only if you use a felt tipped pen that is approved for this use. Never use a solvent-based pen on a disc as it can eat through the lacquer and damage data on your disc.
Packaging/Shipping:
The more secure method is to package your Master in a hard shell container, such as a jewel case or blu-ray case. Additionally, a bubble envelope or bubble-pack padding is a good way to protect your disc in transit. Although paper sleeves do afford some protection against dust, fingerprints and scratches, they are not recommended for transportation, unless properly wrapped.
F.A.Q.
What is the best way to clean a dirty blu-ray disc or to repair a scratched blu-ray disk?
The most reliable answer is to replace it, if at all possible. If the Bluray disc is unique and unreadable, then use a soft lint-free cloth and soapy water (distilled is best). The cloth must be free of any particles or hard fibers that could scratch the disk. The cleaning agent must be a soap, such as Ivory Liquid and not detergents or solvents such as alcohol. Gently wipe in a straight line from the hub to the outside with a wet cloth (error correction methods are better at correcting scratches and marks that go from the center out) and avoid any unnecessary pressure on the disc surface. Scratched discs cannot be repaired by the use of pastes (toothpaste) and waxes (car polish). The use of these solutions can actually increase read error rates even though the visual appearance of the surface may have improved.
Blu-ray Replication Services:
If you require more than a handful of copies of your blu-ray masterpiece, you may want to consider using a duplication or replication service provider. Companies, like Microforum (www.microforum.ca) offer professional duplication and disc printing services. For smaller runs (under 500), a duplication company will use automated tower burners to copy your discs, and either silk screening or digital printing technologies to print the label info directly to the discs (paper stickers are not recommended). If your project requires more than 500 bluray discs, a process known as Glass Mastering will be used to manufacture your discs. A nickel stamper is created during the Glass Mastering process , which will be used to injection mold your (Blu-Ray Discs)BD discs. The molding process is more cost effective at than burning the discs at quantities of 500 or more. The quality of the disc is also better (same process used by the studios). You can watch a video of this process at the following link: http://www.microforum.ca/video/ . |
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