Final Wedding Disc Packaging

[Danny O'Neill]

We went down the custom route as there just isn't anything to hold our disks. Graphi and the others do some amazing albums for photo albums which also hold a disk but none are willing to make a disk centric offering. The other downside is these boxes cost around £300 each.

Those which do offer disk packaging are as you say, pretty cheesy and wedding centric but also disk sized. The sheer thickness of our packaging will make it feel more valuable, even though its nothing but air. We are also betting on an all digital future so the design can handle disks and sticks.

I can't see why a USB stick will fail. The theory is they are likely to last longer than disks. All our flash media comes with a lifetime warranty (specified in the small print as 35 years). Were also hoping people opt for all digital distribution as it means no DVD menus to design and prepare :)

Only downside to custom boxes are they have a minimum order.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Danny O'Neill

I can't see why a USB stick will fail. The theory is they are likely to last longer than disks. All our flash media comes with a lifetime warranty (specified in the small print as 35 years). Were also hoping people opt for all digital distribution as it means no DVD menus to design and prepare :)

Only downside to custom boxes are they have a minimum order.

A friend runs a mail order USB stick company. He says they get around 25% faulty in the first 12 months and the far east manufacturer doesn't care about getting them back, they just send more free replacements.

Another 30%-40% (his estimate) have failed within three years, though most people just throw them away and buy a new one. That becomes much harder to justify when it contains your wedding memories.

I really want USB sticks to be reliable and have longevity, but two of the three sticks I've bought in the last couple of years (all good name brands) are now faulty to the extent that they think they are write protected (no bad thing for photos / video I suppose) and are basically useless now.

I've also spoken to a couple of photographers at wedding fairs and I've been told they are having problems in the field too.

Sad and a little counter intuitive, but unfortunately true.

I don't know whether to think that the quality will increase in time or decrease further with constant price pressure. Who knows?

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Danny O'Neill

I can't see why a USB stick will fail. The theory is they are likely to last longer than disks.

I have had 3 failing usb sticks so far, 2 from Kingston and don't recall what brand the third was, they just stopped working, also have one that continues to say it needs to be formatted as soon as I plug it into my pc but formatting doesn't work and the error message keeps popping up.

Do you know which brand your usb sticks are? I need to get some for my clients this year and rather not skimp on quality, I always tell them to make a back up yet I still do get phones that they lost the digital files because their own usb power external harddrive stopped working (I get that a few times every year, those seem to be very unreliable.) which means they don't make backup copies.

[David Pierson]

Hi Noa, not sure about USB sticks, but I generally buy Sandisk for SD cards etc and have zero issues with them.

As per packaging I have found an alternative to the tins, they are pretty pricey compared to the tins though, at around 20AUD each. I have ordered one, will see how it goes.

[James Manford]

USB sticks are a waste of time and money ... I have had one fail on me. Reputable brand PNY. When I first bought it, it was nice and quick at everything ... all of a sudden it became slower and slower and now it simply doesn't work.

After that experience I wouldn't bother providing weddings on a USB (not that I ever have anyway).

Stick to DVDs and Blurays. And may be the original EDITED digital files spread over multiple dual layer DVDs for them to back up on their PC's, Laptops etc.

[Ger Griffin]

I use these for high end clients.
I Nobili CD-DVD Presentation Case - Maple Nottingham UK

Regular amary DVD cases with printed inlay for regular clients.

[Kyle Root]

Originally Posted by Tim Bakland

I use WHCC WHCC - White House Custom Colour

Tim,

Do you find couples choosing the various fabrics and materials?

I signed up with whcc last week.

Looks like a good set up for higher end packages.

[Soumendra Jena]

Originally Posted by David Pierson

Hey Guys, just curious how do you all deliver the finished product? I'm looking for some more ideas as I can't seem to find any more CD/DVD tins online from Australia. Any ideas/feedback would be appreciated!

Here's the final product I usually deliver.
http://i.imgur.com/jV61x3m.jpg

Wow that looks like a nice case!
How much does that cost if we buy in bulk and print then ?

[Clive McLaughlin]

On Friday I made up 100 hand styled DVD cases for my clients this year with a quotation magnet gift.

100 Blank white digipaks £45
Glue £1
100 Felt scallops £15
A4 sheets of round Kraft stickers £6
A4 sheets of rectangle Kraft stickers £3
Heavy Kraft Card A4 sheets £5.50
100 Self-adhesive magnets £3.60

Total: £79.10

Cost per Case - £0.79

[Soumendra Jena]

looks very nice!

Wheredid you buy the case from ?

[Clive McLaughlin]

CD Digi Packs, DVD Digi Packs, CD Digipak, DVD Digipak, Black Digi Pack and White Digi Pack, 4 Panel Digipack from Wholesale Media for Trade Prices

[Soumendra Jena]

But tell me one thing.

How many of your customers really ask for a DVD anymore ?

Since last 2 years, 100% of my clients have discarded DVDs and they only ask for Blu-Ray.

I really hate DVD.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Soumendra Jena

But tell me one thing.

How many of your customers really ask for a DVD anymore ?

Since last 2 years, 100% of my clients have discarded DVDs and they only ask for Blu-Ray.

I really hate DVD.

Right now, for weddings? Around here 100% want DVD. They may also want Blu-ray and digital download, but 100% want that DVD because that's all granny can play.

[Soumendra Jena]

How do you manage to write the DVD while your footages are widescreen 1080p ?


What I do is,
Finish my premiere pro editing, export as h264 YouTube FullHD 1080p or else Custom 1080p.

Then I get the mp4 file.

I take it to encore and burn the DVD.

But the video looks horrible on the DVD. Totally distorted.

While the same on Blu-Ray looks stunning.

[Clive McLaughlin]

Have to agree - blu ray is a bit of a flop here in the UK. Nobody really watches blu-ray (that I know), nor do clients ask for it.

Besides - on sub 40" tvs at 3/4 metres there is very little difference in watching 720