Compact disc replication

Replication

Compact disc replication (called also as pressing) is the process by which compact disc are manufactured in mass quantities. In case when your project includes lower volume (below 250 pcs – please check our duplication offer)

CD-Audio, CD-Rom, VCD as well as DVD-Rom, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio and many others among optical storage disc are manufactured this way using premastered source material to create glass master in the first stage. This allows to create stamper out of which replicas are being pressed using injection molding machines.

CD

Compact disc was developed by Sony / Philips in early 80`s mainly for audio and data storage. Standard disc has a diameter of 12mm and allows to store 80 minutes of audio or 700MB of data. 80  mm diameter Mini CD`s are also used to store up to 24 minutes of audio or 210 MB of data.

It is made of plastic (exact name is polycarbonate) with a thin layer of aluminum (rarely gold) and protective lacquer. There is also offset or screen printed label on top of the lacquer layer. CD  is 1,2 mm thick and weighs 15-20 grams.

Optical media storage evolution is based on laser beam technology in which laser “reads” information stored on the disc without touching it. Data information is encoded as pits and lands are moulded into the polycarbonate layer. Thanks to the reflective layer of aluminum laser beam measures differences between pits and lands, changes it with a photodiode into modulated signal.

Disc shapes and diameters

Physical size	Audio capacity	CD-ROM data capacity	Definition
120 mm	74–80 min	650–700 MiB	Standard size
80 mm	21–24 min	185–210 MiB	Mini-CD size
80×54 mm – 80×64 mm	~6 min	10–65 MiB	“Business card” size

Most common CD data formats

• CD Audio  ( Compact Disc Digital Audio ) – stores up to 80 minutes of music
• SACD ( Super Audio CD )- high resolution audio disc designed to provide higher fidelity audio reproduction than standard CD Audio.
• CD ROM ( compact disc read-only memory ) – optical data medium for computer data storage
• VCD ( Video CD ) – designed for storing video media
• SVCD ( Super Video Compact Disc ) – used for storing video media with almost 3 times the resolution of VCD
• CD Extra ( Enhanced CD ) – combining audio and computer data
• Photo CD – system for digitizing and storing photos on CD

CD storage capacity

Disc type	12cm CD	8cm (Mini CD)
CD-ROM	up to 700MB	up to 200MB
CD-Audio	up to 80 minut	up to 19 minut
Video CD	up to 80 minut, resolution 352×288	up to 19 minut, resolution 352×288
Super Video CD	up to 60 minut, resolution 480×576	not available
CD-Extra	up to 700MB	up to 200MB

DVD

DVD ( Digital Versatile Disc ) – optical disc storage format released in 1996. While having same physical dimensions it offers much higher storage capacity comparing to compact discs.

Designation		Sides	Layers (total)	Diameter (cm)	Capacity (GB)
DVD-1	SS SL	1	1	8	1.46
DVD-2	SS DL	1	2	8	2.65
DVD-3	DS SL	2	2	8	2.92
DVD-4	DS DL	2	4	8	5.31
DVD-5	SS SL	1	1	12	4.70
DVD-9	SS DL	1	2	12	8.54
DVD-10	DS SL	2	2	12	9.40
DVD-14	DS SL+DL	2	3	12	13.24
DVD-18	DS DL	2	4	12	17.08

How to deliver Your master?

Please see the instructions.