When I started my first video production company in late 2001, my first video productions went straight to VHS. But by 2002, DVDs accounted for almost 50% of sales. The production house that made our VHS dubs printed our very basic spine and face labels for us, but when it came to duplicating DVDs, we were already starting to hear rumblings about problems with sticky labels, especially on DVDs.

We decided we needed a better way of labeling our discs, and Epson was still another year away from introducing inkjet printers that had disc trays. I even purchased a rubber stamp and special ink for nonporous surfaces that would at least allow me to brand our DVDs with our company logo, but I was disappointed with the results. Eventually, I came across thermal printing and have been hooked ever since. I couldn’t afford a thermal printer at the time, and my volume back then didn’t warrant owning such a specialized printer. But as the volume of DVDs I duplicated increased from all the stage productions I was producing, a thermal printer made it higher and higher up my wish list until it made it to the top, last month, when I finally took the plunge and purchased a Rimage Prism Plus thermal printer and autoloader.

Thermal vs. Inkjet
Thermal printing is different from inkjet or laser printing. Whereas inkjet printing applies tiny droplets of liquid ink to the print media and laser printing applies powder toner, thermal printing is a heat-and-pressure transfer of ink resins from a ribbon. The process reminds me of my first plain paper fax machine that used a similar technology: For faxes, it was expensive to use, but the advantage was that unlike fax paper rolls that faded over time, thermal transfer printing was long-lasting.

The same benefit holds for thermal printing on discs, which doesn’t fade, smudge, or require drying time. As a technology for printing on discs, thermal printing actually has a lower cost per disc than inkjet technology, especially when you factor the increase in cost for inkjet-printable media (or sticky labels if you still use them).

Outsourcing vs. In-House Printing
One of the advantages of outsourcing my printing was that I didn’t incur any overhead, but there was also a downside that eventually convinced me that I needed my own thermal printer. The service bureau I used had only a single standalone printer, and discs had to be loaded one at a time. For most of my jobs I delayed ordering the discs until a few days before they were due to allow for any last-minute changes. But when I had a rush job or when they had other large orders before me, I found that I didn’t always get my discs back with enough time to get them out the door.

The other disadvantage was that when a client required just a few extra discs, outsourcing the printing was a hassle. I did have a Primera Signature Z1 thermal printer for very small jobs, but it uses its own software and doesn’t accept Photoshop or PDF files like the Prism Plus does, so it took additional time to redo the artwork. I did supplement with inkjet for a while but was turned off by having to deal with another printer, more ink cartridges, different discs, and a different look to the finished product that didn’t match the original order.

Why I Prefer Thermal
I have always liked the clean, professional look that thermal printing both allows and restricts me with. There is something about the permanence of the bond of the ink resin to the disc that for me is more professional than an inkjet can ever hope to be, even with the new WaterShield media that give the discs a laminated look. (For more on waterproof inkjet media, see this 2007 article.)

I save my full-color design work for where I feel it will make the most impact: the DVD cover, which I upload to a commercial printer who prints, cuts, and delivers the covers to my door. The limitation of single-color and full-color direct thermal printing (available in black, blue, red, or CMY ribbons) is that you are restricted to solid text and artwork. Gradients and shading aren’t well-represented with thermal printing on the Prism Plus, but I’ve never felt the need for photo-quality graphics on my discs anyway. I prefer simple, clean, and professional-looking artwork and am of the mind that inkjet discs that allow photo printing are a disadvantage more than an advantage.

If a DVD were a type of cake it would be a doughnut. There is a reason we don’t decorate donuts as ornately as we do cakes—there is a big hole in the middle and very little that we might do designwise works with a doughnut. I see a DVD as a circle with four quadrants and design accordingly: The top is for the title, the bottom for the subtitle, and the sides for my logo and the DVD-R logo.

Choosing the Model
Deciding which thermal printer I wanted for myself was not a difficult choice. Since 1995, Rimage has been the name in thermal printing with the introduction of the Prism and with its currest models, the Prism Plus and Everest 600. The Prism Plus improved on the Prism by adding color printing, while the Everest (now in its fourth generation) added photorealistic printing through thermal retransfer. Currently, Rimage is the only manufacturer making a low cost-per-disc commercial-grade thermal transfer printer. Primera used to sell the Inscripta thermal printer but discontinued it around the time that waterproof media options arrived for inkjet disc-printing, and their current lineup of printers all use inkjet technology. TEAC also makes the P-55 dye-sublimation thermal retransfer printer and Rimage has the Everest thermal retransfer printer, but both have a higher cost per print due to the retransfer process, which requires an additional transfer roll and increases the printing time. Thermal retransfer does allow for photo-realistic printing, but as I mentioned before, I prefer a cleaner, simpler look, rather than a photo collage on my disc faces.


The Prism Plus comes in two configurations: a standalone printer that prints one disc at a time and the more useful Prism Plus Autoprinter, which can be loaded with 300 discs in its four-compartment carousel. For casual printing, a stand-alone printer is acceptable, but as soon as you start printing more than a dozen discs, you start to appreciate the autoloader with its robotic lift arm that loads and unloads your discs for you, a time savings we far too often don’t factor into the cost of production. It’s too bad that the cost of the unit doubles with the addition of the autoloader, but not having one is like having a paper printer that only has room in its tray for one page at a time. The action is smooth to watch as the autoloader lift arm lowers itself to just below the level of the top disc in the stack and its grippers grab the disc at the hub. It then raises itself to exactly the height of the printer drawer, which also opens automatically, and deposits the disc on the printer tray, which then closes.

The printing itself isn’t the quietest, both with the whooshing of the lift arm and the print head applying the ink. I can still edit in the same room as the printer, although I usually move away from the printer when I’m on the phone.

The market for used thermal printers is small—a sign that those who purchase them hang on to them. Within that market the market for used autoloaders is even smaller, and I was lucky to find one only two states away.

The Prism Plus Autoprinter occupies similar space as my color laser printer, but because it connects to my PC via USB, I’ve had to locate it in my main office with my editing system and admin computer and not in my second office with my network printer and duplicating tower. I’ve also had to upgrade my computer to XP Pro; my previous OS, XP Home Edition is not supported.

How the Prism Plus Performs
Since I’ve had the Autoprinter I’ve printed more than 2,000 DVDs for my own productions and 500 for the newest service I’m providing through my video production company, thermal disc printing. Cost per print is almost negligible, advertised at between 4–5 cents per disc. I’ve found replacement ribbons for as low as $54.99. Single-color ribbons are rated at 2,100 full discs, bringing the cost per disc to 2.7 cents, and even less under typical use, as I don’t print edge-to-edge, and white space on the disc does not result in wasted ribbon. Color ribbons are rated for 500 discs and consume three entire CMY panels per disc, regardless of printing coverage.

Printing is fast at 20 seconds per disc for single color jobs or 35 seconds for color jobs, which is faster than my 8-drive duplicating tower can burn. Switching ribbons is a very manual process that involves taping the end of the ribbon to the inside of the drawer, then opening the drawer to feed the ribbon through to the rollers. Because of a foil validating strip that precedes the ribbon, the ribbon is designed to be completely used before changing rolls; however, it is possible to cut and tape the foil strip to any remaining rolls, which is useful if you want to change colors.

Overall, I can see the Rimage Prism Plus Autoprinter playing an important role in my business in the years to come. Initially I thought I would use it only for black monochrome printing, but after a few test prints in color, I can see myself incorporating color when the situation warrants. Although it is not as visible in my business as a front-of-the-line camera or back-office NLE, the professional thermal printing look has always and will continue to be one of the differentiating factors I use to set my business apart, and the Prism Plus makes me better equipped to do that than ever before.

Shawn Lam (video at shawnlam.ca) runs Shawn Lam Video, a Vancouver video production studio. A contributing editor to EventDV, he specializes in stage event and corporate video production and has presented seminars at WEVA Expo 2005-7 and the 4EVER Group’s Video 07. He won an Emerald Artistic Achievement Award in Stage Production at Video 08.

The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ Has Moved!

Hugh Bennett’s The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ has moved to its new home at Hugh’s News (www.hughsnews.ca).

It can now be found at: www.hughsnews.ca/faqs/authoritative-blu-ray-disc-bd-faq

Sony’s next-generation Blu-ray Disc player, model BDP-S350, is now available across the country at Sony Style retail outlets, sonystyle.com and other authorized Sony retailers.

The BDP-S350 supports BonusView (picture-in-picture), which is featured on select new Blu-ray Disc home video releases, and is also BD-Live ready, with an Ethernet port for easy firmware updates and access to Internet-based interactive content features. A firmware update enabling BD-Live is planned later this year.

It also features quick start up mode improving the player’s boot up time to approximately a few seconds and offers an external port for local storage for BD-Live, allowing users to add an optional flash storage device (sold separately).

“We leveraged our expertise in film production and digital technology to build a machine that movie fans would truly love,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics’ Home Products Division. “An advanced Blu-ray Disc player like the BDP-S350 is a must for every HDTV owner because it delivers the ultimate video and sound quality, while unlocking features you can’t find on DVD, downloads or video on demand.”

Since many consumers own extensive DVD movie libraries, the BDP-S350 incorporates Sony’s new Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology that converts standard-definition signals (480i) to 1080p and outputs a full HD equivalent resolution signal to 1080p TVs via HDMI. Additionally, the model also adds Sony’s new Precision Drive HD, which helps to detect and correct wobbling discs from three directions, stabilizing playback of bent or scratched Blu-ray Discs and DVDs.

Not only does the new BDP-S350 model deliver enhanced performance, it is easier on the environment. Compared to Sony’s previous BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc model, the new BDP-S350 model reduced the overall unit size by 55 percent, reduced packing material by 52 percent and reduced the unit’s total weight by 38 percent. The compact size of the finished package allows Sony to reduce the C02 emissions related to shipping by approximately 43 percent.

In addition, the unit features 21 percent less power consumption in playback mode and 43 percent reduced power consumption in stand-by mode. It also features lead-free solder, all-paper packing and the user guide is printed on 70 percent recycled paper with Volatile Organic Compound-free vegetable oil based ink.

The model offers 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio bit-stream output.

The BDP-S350 supports AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by about 1.8 times, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye actually sees in the natural world. The players also feature compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD/CD recordable media.

The new BDP-S350 is now available for about $400 at Sony Style stores, online at sonystyle.com, at military base exchanges, and at authorized retailers nationwide.

www.sonystyle.com

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) held its annual press conference today at the E3 Media & Business Summit, making a series of announcements which demonstrated the strength of the PlayStation brand across all three of its platforms and further leveraged the heritage and momentum of PlayStation’s family of products to provide consumers with more compelling entertainment options than anyone in the videogame industry.

Starting in September 2008, the newly announced PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) 80GB model will become the mainstay of the company’s hardware lineup. The 80GB model will retail for $399, and will offer all of the features and functionality of the 40GB model with double the storage to accommodate more movies, graphics, music, photos and other entertainment content – all for the same price. As with its predecessor, the new 80GB model will be a complete entertainment system comprising of a Blu-ray™ player, HDMI output, an integrated Wi-Fi connection, Cell Broadband Engine™ and a built-in 80GB hard-disk drive.

The multi-functionality of the 80GB PS3, combined with more than 140 exclusive and third-party titles and the PLAYSTATION®Network, is a comprehensive entertainment value designed to appeal to a wide range of consumers from hard-core gamers to general entertainment enthusiasts.

Following the success of five PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) Entertainment Packs, SCEA announced the Ratchet and Clank® Size Matters PSP Entertainment Pack, a new bundle showcasing PSP’s multi-functional feature set, targeted for holiday gift-giving. Launching in October 2008 for $199.99 MSRP, the bundle will include a limited-edition “Silver” PSP system with the highly acclaimed game, Ratchet and Clank® Size Matters; a blockbuster movie on UMD® (Universal Media Disc); a PLAYSTATION®Network voucher to download the innovative puzzle game, echochrome™ from PLAYSTATION®Store: and a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo™ for storing music, videos, photos and more.

In addition, SCEA introduced a new family entertainment bundle for the PlayStation®2 system, the most successful console in industry history. The limited-edition LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame PlayStation®2 Pack will feature the highly anticipated TT Games/Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment title LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame, Warner Home Video’s Justice League: The New Frontier on DVD, and a PlayStation®2 system – all for $149.99 MSRP, which represents a $30 savings for consumers if the contents were purchased separately. SCEA will also launch more than 130 new titles for PlayStation®2 system this year, totaling 10,000 PlayStation®2 titles by end of the year.

“It’s undeniable we have three successful platforms, the broadest and best line-up of some of the biggest exclusives in the business, and are continuing to deliver compelling and original content to our consumers,” said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. “Expect to see continued momentum this year as we remain focused on delivering products and services that extend the strength of our brand and reaffirms PlayStation’s place at the center of consumers’ homes.”

Additionally, the company previewed more than 140 first and third-party games at E3 2008 proving its content line-up this year is unmatched in the industry due to its depth, breadth, and diversity. Throughout the holiday season and this fiscal year, SCEA and its third-party partners plan to release more than 140 software titles for the PS3 available on Blu-ray Disc™ (BD).

SCEA is also developing more than 50 games, game packs, and add-ons downloadable via PLAYSTATION®Network in North America this year, offering something for every taste, lifestyle and budget. Also, to continue offering greater value to PlayStation fans, SCEA will launch PS3 Greatest Hits program on July 28 with 10 first and third party titles at a reduced price of $29.99. The PS3 Greatest Hits titles include Warhawk™, Motorstorm™ and Resistance: Fall of Man® from SCEA; Call of Duty® 3, Activision®; Need for Speed: Carbon, Electronic Arts; The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™, Bethesda® Softworks; Ninja Gaiden® Sigma, Tecmo® ; Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Vegas and Assassin’s Creed™, Ubisoft®.

SCEA also reiterated its commitment to make PLAYSTATION®Network the best entertainment experience in the industry, by announcing a new video delivery service on PLAYSTATION®Store for PS3 and PSP systems in the United States. The new video service, available today, allows U.S. consumers to download full-length TV shows and movies to both their PS3 and PSP through the PlayStation Store for rental or purchase.

In addition, SCEA further outlined progress against its revolutionary online experience, PlayStation Home. Highlighting new first party high definition virtual environments for hit PlayStation titles including, Unchartered: Drake’s Fortune and Warhawk. With significant third party support already on board, Sony Computer Entertainment will be expanding the beta in Summer 2008 and commence the open beta service by Fall 2008.

www.us.playstation.com

HP and Sony Corporation today announced an agreement to create the next-generation Digital Audio Tape format - the DAT 320 - providing improved performance and capacity over existing DAT drives. HP and Sony are jointly developing the DAT or Digital Data Storage (DDS) standard, but will separately offer their own DAT 320 tape drives and cartridges. Similar to previous generations of DAT/DDS, the DAT 320 will be an open standard, which ensures partners can continue to obtain license rights.

Small and midsize businesses as well as enterprises with remote offices use tape to archive and back up data as a key component of their disaster recovery strategies. IDC forecasts the tape market will generate more than $1.4 billion in 2009.(1) The industry is experiencing healthy performance since tape provides SMBs with a cost-effective storage solution to handle the massive increase in digital data.

"The DAT 320 offers customers and partners a data protection solution that delivers unmatched performance and capacity," said Bob Wilson, vice president and general manager, Storage Platforms Division, HP. "Combining the expertise of two industry leaders that share a legacy of delivering proven DAT/DDS technology will result in a new standard for tape archiving with the low cost of ownership and reliability DAT customers have grown to expect."

"Demand for higher-capacity data backup and archiving continues to be important for small and midsize businesses and enterprise environments," said Masayoshi Sugiyama, president, Chemical Device and Energy Business Group, and executive vice president, Sony Corporation. "Combining HP's technical base, which includes six DAT generations, and Sony's 50-year history in magnetic recording technology, including Metal Evaporated based media, will provide a compelling solution to meet the demands of higher-capacity and easy-to-manage data protection."

Twice the capacity and performance
Businesses rely on the volume-leading DAT format to back up and restore critical business data. This provides protection against the loss of data in the case of events such as system failures, operator error, theft and natural disasters. “The data storage and archive needs of small and midsize businesses continue grow at an unabated pace,” said Robert Amatruda, research director, Tape and Removable Storage, IDC. “The DAT 320 drive provides a cost-effective data protection solution, especially for those who have used DAT/DDS tape technology for more than a decade.”

With backup speeds of up to 86 gigabytes (GB) per hour with 2:1 data compression, the DAT 320 will offer up to 320 GB of capacity on a single cartridge - compared with 160 GB, available from the current DAT 160 format. The DAT 320 also will consume fewer watts per GB than previous generations and will be backwards compatible with the DAT 160.

Pricing and availability
HP and Sony will offer the same base hardware for the DAT 320, but will develop unique features within the firmware configuration to sell the DAT 320 tape drives and media through their own branded and OEM business channels. More information about models, configurations, feature sets and prices will be announced by the companies separately. General availability is expected in 2009.

www.sel.sony.com
www.hp.com

MainConcept GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ: DIVX) and one of the world’s leading providers of video and audio codecs as well as software development kits to the broadcast, film and consumer electronic markets, today announced that it has released the next step of its Cross Platform Encoder application called MainConcept™ Reference 1.5 in a new version for Mac/Intel.

MainConcept’s successor of the renowned Mac Encoder allows the quick and easy conversion of multiple audio and video formats, with renowned MainConcept quality, including H.264/AVC, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, VC-1, DVCPRO HD, JPEG2000, AAC and HE-AAC. Consumers and professionals alike will benefit from numerous ready-to-use presets, including those for Blu-ray, Adobe Flash, DVD, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, AVCHD, XDCAM EX, XDCAM HD and many more.

Reference 1.5 allows exporting to uncompressed RAW/YUV files and supports the export of WMV and Adobe Flash compliant F4V files to provide video content for AVC/H.264 live streaming with the latest version of Adobe’s Flash Media Server 3, MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.263. The encoder also includes MPEG-4 presets for Apple iPod, Sony PSP and other mobile devices. Powerful features such as batch encoding, watch folder support and logo blending further enhance the daily production workflow. Even command line control is available.

“As one of the leading production houses for physical and non-physical digital media in Europe, we have been using MainConcept Reference H.264/AVC on Intel/Mac for digitizing video for EST (Electronic Sell-Thru), VoD (Video on Demand) and DTO (Download to Own) with excellent results. The H.264 Reference Encoder provides outstanding quality by producing output signals for stationary, portable and mobile devices," said Lothar Kerestedjian, Director Product & Business Development, Enteractive GmbH, Germany.

“Mpmotion exclusively produces high-definition video content for international major customers in more than 14 countries. Within the production process we have evaluated every other software encoder on the market. MainConcept Reference is the only professional encoder delivering an optimal picture quality with a maximum bitrate of 38 MBit for Blu-ray, allowing us to achieve maximum quality and complete satisfaction for our customers," said Thorsten Riedel, Founder and Managing Director mpmotion, Germany.

“We participated in MainConcept’s Prerelease Program and evaluated the Reference Encoder on Mac/Intel for digital delivery and we are now introducing JPEG2000 broadly to our high definition workflow. Reference is the only professional product on the market today that makes even JPEG2000 available in high-quality and at an affordable price. Also the quality for MPEG-2 was unbeaten in comparison to other codec vendors and we are proud to be one of the first customers working with this powerful version on the Mac. We were completely convinced by the extraordinary performance of this transcoding solution,” said Peter Morlock, CEO of Kinospot.de, Germany.

MainConcept Reference 1.5 is available for online purchase and instant downloading. To test the power of the codecs and the Reference workflow, a free evaluation version with all important MainConcept codecs in demo mode is available for pre-purchase testing at MainConcept’s website. A Linux version will also be available soon and an update to version 1.5 for Windows can be found at www.mainconcept.com.

Moser Baer, world’s second largest optical media manufacturer, brings out another best selling product. In its quest to satisfy customers’ expectations globally, this time it innovates to introduce a highly stable CDR 52x, 700MB, 80 min. media - “Professional Select”.

Professional Select CDR is made using a patented process, which ensures that variations across the disc surface are a thing of the past. Professional Select is a “Must Have” for Professional Duplicators, as the uniformity from the outer edge to hub results in a highly professional printable media. Moreover the excellent disc quality leads to best possible compatibility across various drives, including the Plextor Premium & Plextor 711.

Professional Select CDR comes with wide range of complete Printable coatings for professional duplication. Uniformity in printing across the disc surface enhances the image quality & aesthetic appeal of the discs. This includes:

• Inkjet silver
• Inkjet white
• Inkjet waterproof – “Aqua-shield”
• Inkjet Color
• Thermal Gold
• Thermal Silver
• Thermal White

Professional Select CDR with “Aqua-shield” is a waterproof Inkjet printable surface, which gives superb disc printing results at much lower overall cost than printing on thermal media.

www.glyphicsmedia.com

TECHNOLOGIES (SINGULUS) installed the first BLULINE Blu-ray disc production machine for the Southeast Asian market at Axiom Technologies MFG PTE Ltd in Singapore this month. At the inauguration ceremony “AXIOM GOES BLU” on 18 July 2008, the Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. George Yeo, was the Guest-of-Honor and along with Mr. Bernhard Goh, Managing Director of Axiom (AXIOM) they took the opportunity to praise Blu-ray technology and its advantages in the S.E.A. region.

Mr. Goh stated: “We are proud to be the pioneers for Blu-ray in our region, and will certainly promote this competitive advantage. Each adopter of this new technology will further nudge the optical business towards the 3rd generation formats and HDTV. The decision to buy a production system from SINGULUS is the right insurance for us to achieve this target.”

“With this first step, we are helping to develop the Southeast Asian Blu-ray market, and in particular to set the course for future SINGULUS business activities,” added Ms. Sylvia Hitzel, Vice-President Sales and Marketing at SINGULUS.

CORPORATE PROFILE AXIOM
AXIOM provides manufacturing and related value-added services to the CD, DVD, Blu-ray storage media industry, delivering a valuable one-stop solution, ranging from content development and design to packaging and distribution. With a firm belief in leveraging technology to meet customer's needs, AXIOM's success comes from heading the market's call for more than just the basic replication service.

www.singulus.nl

DVD neXt COPY announces the release of version V2.9.9.1, a new and improved version that has the best quality of any DVD Copy software available. DVD neXt COPY triggers the Quality King and jumps over the magical quality hurdle of the legendary DVDShrink.

Until now the "old" DVDShrink possessed the best quality of any DVD copy program available. It was impossible for any competitors to reach this level of high quality and speed. As of now, DVD neXt COPY has broken through this barrier, and provides better quality and much faster burns than DVDShrink (High Quality Mode).

DVD neXt COPY now provides the highest quality of any DVD copy software available. Our extensive quality check was preformed on the majority of the latest DVD movies with excellent results. We have compiled test report on two special movies that are often used as quality reference movies, because they are very complicated to recompress. You can see our results in this test report.

During this special promotional period, you can receive $20 off DVD neXt COPY Xpress, Standard and Pro. Just enter the word "SAVE20" in the coupon field during purchase, to receive your $20 discount.

Read more information about the new DVD neXt COPY at www.dvdnextcopy.com.

Watch the online DVD neXt COPY flash tutorials here.

• V2.9.9.1
• Release Date 24-06-08
• Improved neXt Tech
• Improved Quality Engine
• Improved Software Compatibility Mode
• Added Pre-scan Preview Function
• Updated Resources to V2.9.9.1