http://www.coremediagroup.com
They mass produce DVDs, complete with covers and shrink wrap; basically what you call "retail ready". I asked him about glass mastering and duplication and printing and imprinting, etc. Here is what he told me. Up until about two years ago, you needed to provide a DLT (digital linear tape), which made things a bit more complicated because the only way to preview your DVD was after it had been authored. Now, he says that you can provide his company with either a DVD+R or -R (makes no difference) and they can produce the glass master from that and then the stamping master (my term, not his) to produce DVDs that are actually stamped like Hollywood movies (as opposed to a burn like a home DVD).
Here are the three things he says people should provide:
1) A high resolution full color JPG or Bitmap (200-300 dpi) of the cover at 100% size.
2) A high resolution black and white JPG or Bitmap (200-300 dpi) for the graphic that appears on the disk, itself (called a thermal imprint).
3) A complete mastered DVD+R or -R with chapter breaks, just the way you want it to look.
If you provide those three things, his company can provide you with 1000 actual stamped DVDs, in cases with printed covers, full disk imprint and shrink-wrapped (retail ready) for $1.59 each. The more you order, the less it would be. There is no "set up" fee but, obviously, anything less than 1000 copies will become less cost effective. I'm certain that at some point, ordering too few will not be worth the price per copy so I just used 1000 as a practical reference. I looked around and there were other places that seemed to offer a price less per DVD but their "set up" fee was kind of vague when it got into all the extras like cover printing, imprinting, seperations, shrink wrap, etc. His price includes everything, making it more predictable and managable, I feel.
You can reach Rick at 1-210-348-9763. I told him I was posting this information on this forum and double checked the info before I did, so he won't be surprised if anyone calls him about it.
I am going to soon send him a sample DVD and cover, etc, just to see how it looks, and I'll post my results after I do. I'll be paying a premium of several hundred dollars to have him take my DVD and art through all the steps just for a single DVD but I think it is the only way to see how it will really look, whether ordering one or 1000. If all works out (and I can't see why it would not), I think this is a pretty good resource for simplifying the DVD reproduction process and bypassing the "home burned" DVD issues of incompatibablity with +R and -R disks. Hell, it might make distributing your own movie worth while!
Roger
http://www.moviestuff.tv
