By: Amie Hoffner
When I started working in the CD and DVD duplication and printing industry more than four years ago many churches were just starting to move from cassettes to CDs. Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who still wants to duplicate tapes. When worship centers started using CDs they burned discs by hand and used paper labels, then automated duplication and printing systems sped up the process, but many churches still needed to burn CDs and DVDs faster following events.
Requiring discs directly following an event, has now been named event duplication. Churches that need CDs and DVDs directly after an event require different duplication technology than those that can wait several hours for finished discs. When churches want to sell or giveaway discs within minutes after a service, holiday pageant, guest speaker or choir performance they now require a CD/DVD printer and tower duplicator.
"Speed is the name of the game in worship. Most churches want to hand out discs 15-30 minutes after a service is over which requires towers with the appropriate amount of drives," says Steven Barnard, Account Executive at CD Dimensions, Inc. in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. CD Dimensions specializes in selling CD and DVD duplicators and printers in the United States and Barnard specializes in selling to churches and ministries. "Over the past few years, churches have been going from duplicating tapes to CDs and DVDs. My specialty is finding the CD and DVD duplication and printing solutions that meet the need of churches and ministries and for fast turnaround that often means a tower."
Tower duplicators offer large output potential by copying multiple discs at one time. In a seven drive tower system, there are actually eight drives. One drive holds the master disc, while a user manually feeds blank discs into seven drives for recording. With 52x CD-R drives, seven full 700 MB CDs can be recorded in three minutes. When finished, users must unload the recorded discs and place the next round of blank discs into the drives by hand. While hand-feeding a tower duplicator might be considered cumbersome, it is currently the only way to quickly record discs on demand. "There is no doubt that towers are currently the quickest way to duplicate discs when you have a limited amount of time to complete a job. A tower with eight recorders can do 160 full CDs per hour," says Barnard.
While recording sermons onto CDs is popular, churches also record video onto DVDs directly following guest speakers and holiday pageants. "DVDs are slowly making their way into the church market," says Barnard. Since a full 4.7 GB disc can be copied in 6-8 minutes, churches can record seven full DVDs in 6-8 minutes.
Churches burning discs for events also need a way to print their discs. There are many options for disc printing, but ultimately choosing the printer that best meets the church's needs comes down to volume and budget. "Volume determines the choices on the printing equipment," states Barnard. "The cost of printing technology has come down enough that even for lower volume jobs we recommend auto printers like the Bravo II." Auto printers automate the printing process by using a robotic arm to automatically move discs from an input bin, into a printer and place finished discs into an output bin. Auto printers generally start at 25-disc capacity and go up to 400-discs per job. Barnard adds, "When time is an issue pre-printing is the best way to go. After discs are preprinted, all that needs to be done is the duplication and churches are ready to hand out the finished product."
Randy Corl, the media director at Concord First Assembly in Concord, North Carolina, learned to save time by moving from sticky labels to an automated duplication and printing system, "We originally used a one drive duplicator and sticky labels to make CDs. Then we purchased a Bravo II (Disc Publisher), because we wanted to drop in CDs of large events and have them ready the next day." Corl's Bravo II Disc Publisher by Primera Technology uses a robotic arm to automatically burn and print up to 50 discs per job. (Primera also makes an auto printer version called the Bravo II AutoPrinter). Corl adds, "The Bravo II (Disc Publisher) was great when we needed burned and printed discs the next day." Says Corl, "Thank God we moved past one drive and sticky labels; what a pain!"
Shortly after purchasing the Bravo II Disc Publisher, Corl's needs changed again when his church wanted to sell CDs of the sermon directly following the service, "With our Bravo II (Disc Publisher), we could only burn and print one disc every three minutes and we knew we'd need something faster." Corl quickly found tower duplicators and realized he could use his Bravo II Disc Publisher to automatically pre-print CDs before the service (skipping the recording process) and then use a tower duplicator to burn the discs following the service. "We use a seven drive tower duplicator that burns seven CDs in three minutes. We have sermon discs available as soon as people walk out the door."
The Pentecostal Church of God in Joplin, Missouri, also uses a tower for its event duplication needs. "We pre-print and burn discs for general conventions, sermons and business meetings," says Don Allen, IT Director. Allen's church duplicated 2,500 discs last month and likes using his Bravo II AutoPrinter and seven drive tower because, "…it's cost-effective, reasonably fast and much faster than feeding a printer by hand. In fact, we've recommended the system and may be buying another auto printer to increase our output."
Even manufacturers are creating products specifically geared toward churches. Primera Technology, a leading manufacturer of CD and DVD duplication and printing systems, recently added tower duplicators. "We realize that many churches need high volumes of discs directly following an event," said Mark Strobel, Primera Technology's vice president of sales and marketing. "To better meet event duplication needs, we recently added DUP-07 Tower Bundles geared toward churches." Primera's tower bundles pair the DUP-07 CD/DVD Tower Duplicator (seven recording drives) with one hand-fed printer, one automated 50-disc capacity auto printer or one automated 100-disc capacity auto printer. "With the wide range in capacity and low price, we can meet the needs of almost any church duplicating discs for events," adds Strobel.
Amie Hoffner represents Primera Technology, Inc., in Plymouth, Minnesota
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