Recommendations DVD QC Software?

[Kenith Olson]

Am working on a video that will be burned to DVD for distribution.

As a believer in "Murphy's Law". I want to make sure there are no problems with these DVDs so am interested in any recommendations concerning software that will scan the finished DVD for errors.

I did a quick Google using "dvd quality control software" got 1 hit Scenarist Qc
Download Scenarist Qc Software: QC Pro, QC Pro 2010 R2, DVD Reauthor, ... but did not notice anything relevant.

Using dvd quality control software got About 290,000,000 results but did not find anything relevant in first few pages.

Thanks

Ken

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Ken,

Use a high-quality media and burn the master at slow speed for starts to minimize possibility of errors. Then test the disc on both computer and set-top players, obviously making sure every link/button does what it ought to, and also that it plays through glitch-free.

My current workflow from Adobe Encore is to create a Disc Image (.iso file) on the hard drive first, rather than burning straight to DVD. I then use third-party software to burn the Image to disc.

Most duplication outfits can send you a proof disc to check out before making the big run of discs, to make sure nothing changed on their end.

Not aware of any software to do this for you.

Thanks

[Peter Mykusz]

Get your discs duplicated by a professional duplication company. They will create a master and "press" the discs so that they last a long time. Most people make their own discs by using a DVD burner. They try to save money and end up with discs that won't play in a few years because the blue dye layer was of poor quality. It's actually cheaper per disc provided that you need them in quantity.

You will have to play a few random discs to check. Pressed discs are produced from one master so they should all be identical. Burned discs use a bank of DVD recorders.

[Jeff Pulera]

I will add that many years ago, if you wanted to get copies of a DVD made, the only commercial option was "Replication" as Peter explained, coming from a glass master. Unfortunately, this meant extra setup expense and a large minimum order requirement.

In recent years, most places now offer "duplication" which simply means burned discs. I've been burning my own discs in a tower for many years in large volume and using quality media, have just about zero coasters. Like 1 in 500 or less. I also have not had failures down the road that I'm aware of, no customers calling about "My DVD quit working".

This past year, after my tower quit, I started outsourcing and can get ANY quantity, fully packaged and color printed, at $1.75 each. And no customer complaints with the new workflow, zero defect rate so far having delivered many hundreds of DVDs for multiple projects.

Most of my runs are 100 discs or less, so this makes sense for me. However, if you are going to have 500-1000 DVDs or more made up, then Replication can make financial sense based on economy of scale, where the setup charge can be better absorbed into the bulk pricing.

Regards,