History of the first DVDs
In the early days of DVD manufacturing, there was typically only one reliable way to manufacture DVDs. Its called DVD Replication. This process used a master DLT tape that was authored by a professional DVD Editing and authoring house then output to tape in the form of digital content. This digital content was then used during mastering to create a glass master. The glass master process is a clean room environment where the DVD disc data is laser etched into a plate of glass. This glass is then cleaned and then nickel plated. This nickel plating is then peeled from the glass plate and the resulting nickel disc is the exact reverse image of the glass master. The nickel plate is then cut into a round disc called a stamper. This stamper was then used to physically press polycarbonate into the first layer of a DVD disc. After the disc was stamped, the disc was then plated with a reflective coating and a second clear disc was glued to the top of this disc. The final result was a DVD. The glass master was then re-polished to be used over and over with other laser cut DVD images.
Quantity Limitations of DVD Replication in the old days
Since the DVD Replication process was so involved with setup costs for the mastering and stamper creation, the minimum quantities for order was 5000 units. This high quantity limitation prevented most film makers and artists from releasing their film or video on DVD.
Need for lower quantity DVD Manufacturing
As the popularity of the DVD sky-rocketed, an immediate need was created to try to make DVDs without the need for such a sophisticated process. CD burning had been out for several years and the same basic principle was applied to the concept of the DVD-R. This process called DVD Duplication consisted of having a pre-made blank DVD disc that had a light sensitive dye applied between two layers of clear polycarbonate. This dye was organic in nature, meaning it would degrade over time. When the laser hit the dye at a certain frequency, the dye was left with a reflective impression. This was the basic principle of burning DVDs.
Why is there a difference with the burned DVD Duplication
Since the dye was organic in nature and could degrade, the quality of the dye reflected the quality of the disc. In the early days the process of both blank disc manufacturing and DVD-R disc burners was unstable. Hence the reliability of DVD Duplication(burned discs) was poor. During this time the true quality value of a burned DVD-R was much lower than a replicated disc.
Current perceived and real quality value of DVD Duplication vs. DVD Replication
As the DVD industry evolved, however, and the burnable DVD-Rs became better and the burners became better, the reliability of DVD duplication became much higher. Over the past 17 years or so, the perceived and real quality value of a DVD-R(burned duplication) and a DVD(Replication) is very similar. DVD duplication quality is almost the same as a replicated disc and the only discriminating factor is quantity. Over 500 units DVD Replication becomes more cost effective in most circumstances. Under 500 units and most will buy DVD Duplication.
