DVD Duplicator - 1 to 5, 1 to 7, etc.

[Kevin Randolph]

I'm thinking of purchasing a DVD duplicator, something like the Lacie 125

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...c_DVD_125.html

Now I know some people on the board have had bad experiences with Lacie products. I haven't (and hope to keep it that way).

Never the less, Does anyone here have experience with multidisc duplicators or some recommendations?

What should I be looking for in a duplicator?

I know there has been a lot of discussion lately about duplications houses, but I am interested in keeping this in-house for now.

Thank you,
Kevin

[Mark Bournes]

1 to 3 SONY DVD DUPLICATOR Replicator copier 160GB BK

I just bought this one. It arrives on thursday, I'll let you know how it works.

[Bill Zens]

If you're even the slightest bit handy you can build a 6X duplicator yourself for about $400. By handy I mean, plugging in cables to a controller and some DVD burners, plugging the DVD's to the power supply, and attaching the DVD's to a case. If you want, you can connect a Hard Disk Drive to the controller as well.
I made this DVD duplication machine about 2 months ago, and it 's easy to work and is pretty much a no brainer to assemble.

Here's what I got:
Acard controller 2039 and Case thru Copy Stars for about $200.00
https://www.copystars.com/scart/publ...eview&pid=1334
This is a 7-bay case with the controller, power supply, all the cords, screws, etc...
I got six DVD RW drives from Newegg at about $180.00. Make sure you get regular IDE drives, not SATA ones, as the controller is IDE.
I had an extra 80gb HDD I threw in there to store the vids. It was at no cost and just sitting in my garage unused, but they are pretty cheap nowadays.
An 80 gb drive will store about 15 full DVD's, more than enough for my needs, but you don't need the HDD if you don't want it. The machine works fine without it.
Total cost about $400.00

To use it:
KEEP THE DIRECTIONS HANDY
The Acard controller is pretty easy to use, and it flies thru the disks...takes about 5 minutes per drive to copy a full 1 hour movie. How does it work? Throw the DVD into the drive, select copy to the HDD, and it takes a couple minutes to copy it. There is a LCD screen on the Acard telling you the progress of the copy.
Then, put your disks into the DVD copiers, select the copy to DVD function, load 'em up, and a couple minutes later they pop out. Once it gets going, it's pretty unbelievable how much and how fast you can duplicate.

Some suggestions:
Get the same make and model DVD burners. I guess some people have had problems mixing them.
Don't worry about the "slave/master/CS function on the drives. Doesn't really matter
KEEP THE INSTRUCTIONS

[Kevin Randolph]

Thanks for the tip, Bill. Computer stuff is the ONLY thing that I am handy about. I can't count the number of things that I've tried to fix around the house and have ended up making worse instead of better (I thought water only shot out of a facet like that in cartoons?). But I digress...

So really? A case, a controller, some burners, maybe a hard drive, and an afternoon of cursing? That's all? I really will have to look into this...

I do have an old hard drive in a computer sitting in the basement. I think that it is 80 gigs, maybe only 60, but still large enough.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Jacob Burson]

I have yet to build my own PC, but I have swapped out enough parts and understand what's going enough to have built my own duplicator.

It really is not much more than buying a controller card, a tower, some DVD drives, and an HDD (not necessary, but advisable).

I built mine around an Acard ARS-2033S 1 to 7 duplicator controller card. This was a couple of years ago. The card was $177 and the case was $99. I bought 4 NEC 3540A DVDRW for the tower for $40 a piece. Those are $30 now. All of my stuff required IDE drives not SATA. I could add 4 more burners, but I've been fine so far with only 3.

I had an 80GB HD sitting around as well that I threw in there. My controller card will not recognize more than 80GB, but that hasn't been a problem for me.

My system cost me about $430 and it payed for itself on the job I built it for. It's a project that'll make you feel good about the money you saved from buying a pre-built one.

I see the ARS-2033S is down to $123 http://www.amamax.com/acarar1dvdsu.html

[Kevin Randolph]

In the past when I put together systems (it's been a few years) I've had issues with the cables, especially IDE cables, not being long enough. A question to those of you who have built your own duplicator: Has this been an issue for you? I know the controller will take up one of the center drive bays, and it looks from the image of the Amamax controller that the IDE sockets are toward the back of the controller. I just don't want to have to hunt down some special IDE cable that is two inches longer than a standard cable and cost $20 more.

So have you guys had any issues with the cables that come with the DVD Burners not being long enough?

Just curious, I'm sure that this is the way I'm going to go.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Bill Zens]

Kevin, it depends on where you put your controller card. I put mine on the top slot of the cabinet, and I gotta tell you, it was a bit of a tight stretch to get the IDE cable to fit to the bottom DVD burner.
Afterwards, I found out the card is supposed to be in the MIDDLE of the cabinet. Just look at your picture of the Lacie box in your link in your first posting of this thread, and you'll see it's in the middle of the drives. If I put mine in the middle, it would have been real easy fitting the cables.

I just liked it on top.

[Kevin Randolph]

Can't blame you for liking it on top. ;-)

Controller in the middle, got it.