In the CD and DVD replication procedure, after the glass master copy has been made and is prepared to be replicated, a replicating machine is then put to use to produce the number of copies required. The replicating machines are very prompt in their work. They can mould discs at a speed of 900 per hour.CDS are composed of polycarbonate. These are molded at ease as they are melted at low temperature. The CD and DVD replicating machines initially dry the polycarbonate at a temperature of 130 degrees. After this the disc is vacuum fed and placed into the injection chamber. It is then heated to its melting point 210-320 degrees. After this, it is injected into the mould that has the data print. Once it is full. Water is passed over it and the disc becomes solid. The data is however intact in it. The disc now goes through a process called sputtering.The ultimate stage of this CD and DVD replication process is to add a protective layer to the reflective side to avoid corrosion. A lacquer is applied to the disc. A spin coater machine is used to apply this lacquer. This lacquer gives protection without disturbing the reflective properties of the data side. Then a UV lamp is used to remove the lacquer and this is done very fast. The intensity is high to achieve quick results.So we see that the CD and DVD replication machines are very important parts of the entire replication process.

The process of replication is easily mistaken for duplication, which is concerned with burning blank compact or digital versatile disks. This confusion is probably fuelled by the fact that the results of the two processes are more or less similar. However, the key difference between the two is that replication involves moving of non-original data from one source to a CD/DVD, thereby creating duplicates. Replication is also undertaken by authorised companies and brokers, while duplication does not involve such a restriction, it can even get done on a personal computer.The process is preceded by an examination of firstly, duplication. It is followed by that of moving from the source, called glass mastering, which is in turn used in the creation of the mould, called the stamper. Substances containing polycarbonate are then merged with the stampers, thereby creating discs.The next step is a crucial one; the validity is established by ensuring there are no unreadable portions.The process itself is begun by formatting and arranging of the data; the pre-mastering stage. Then follows the mastering stage, which is basically about getting ready for replication of both or either audio and audiovisual data. Electrolysis occurs after stampering, through immersion into nickel sulfamate. Prior to the pressing procedure, the mould is washed, dried and protected with a film. It is also smoothened and shone. Thereafter, the moulding stage takes place, as previously mentioned, through the injection of the polycarbonate.The last step is the pressing and printing of the file.

Most CD and DVD replicators have artwork templates in Adobe Photoshop or Quark. These are the most commonly used graphics editing software available on the market. You should try to use templates supplied by the replicators because  they would have the dimensions and resolution preset for you. If you prefer to build the artwork from the scratch without using the template, remember these attributes: 300 dpi and CMYK mode. Don’t try to digitally increase the resolution by entering 300 dpi into the program unless your original artwork resolution is higher than 300 dpi. The concept is similar to buying a digital camera or camcorder. Usually the user’s manual for the digital camera or camcorder will explain the difference between optical zoom and digital zoom. Digital zoom is like making the pixels bigger than they should be. In doing so the picture looks bigger but the quality is low.To get a true 300 dpi picture, you should get a picture with enough pixels. The dpi of the picture is not really important. You can have a 72 dpi picture but 2000 pixels across. When this picture is scaled down onto the CD artwork template, the result will be very good. On the other hand, if you have a 300 dpi picture but with only 200 pixels across, then when the picture is scaled up onto the CD artwork template, it will look blurry.Once you have your artwork designed, you should burn it onto a blank CD and send it with your content master CDs to your replicator. . CMYK is the standard color model used in offset printing for full-color documents. Because such printing uses inks of these four basic colors, it is often called four-color printing.In the CD Replication process and also DVD Replication process the above information is relative.