[dvdvol] the ultimate burning system!!!

Thu Jun 2 10:50:45 PDT 2005

Hi Mark.  You make some good points.  The distributed system is a good one, 
but is currently not keeping up with demand.  Basically, that's due in 
large part to one of our most active volunteers taking a little break (to 
which he is very much entitled) so as to deal with more pressing 
issues.  But even with his tireless assistance, and the help of all of our 
other volunteers, we are still struggling to keep up.

On top of that, when the new DVD comes out (something which I expect to 
happen in the next few months), we can expect to see an increase in 
requests from the web form.  Also, I'm hoping we can arrange some large 
giveaways to schools, libraries, ETC..

So, to answer your question, I realize that it's not the best situation to 
double mail the discs.  However, within the US, it can be quite inexpensive 
when using "Media Mail" to send a large quantity.  Mailing to outside the 
US, on the other hand, is another story.

Volunteers should continue to burn as much as possible for themselves, but 
with this system, we will be able to augment their supplies and more evenly 
distribute the work of packaging and mailing.  It will also permit us to 
create a large quantity of discs should a major giveaway opportunity come 
up unexpectedly.

Finally, just to update everyone, Ian Stompa (a member of this list and 
another valuable volunteer) has managed to procure several promises of 
financial support totalling $500, and Greg has given his approval for the 
rest if need be.  If anyone has any contacts who need a nice tax right off, 
you might pass the word along.

Thanks also to the help of Brandon Galbraith, the specific hardware has 
been selected and will be e-mailed to Greg shortly.

I'll keep you all updated on our progress.

Thanks again.

Sincerely
Aaron Cannon

At 10:06 AM 6/2/2005, you wrote:
>I like this idea a lot, but how would you then distribute the resulting
>discs to volunteers?
>
>The beauty of the distributed production is that many of us are burning and
>mailing at the same time.
>
>Surely with this system, you'd either have to double-mail them (one "bulk"
>mail to a volunteer and then another to the recipient), or volunteers would
>collect.
>
>Unless what you are saying is that you are gonna do 135 discs an hour, so
>there's less for us to do?
>
>Mark.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Aaron Cannon [mailto:cannona at fireantproductions.com]
>Sent: 31 May 2005 02:43
>To: dvdvol at lists.pglaf.org
>Subject: [dvdvol] the ultimate burning system!!!
>
>
>Hello all.  Today I was trying to think of a way to improve the efficiency
>of the CD/DVD distribution system and I got to thinking about how much of a
>bottle neck burning the discs is.  When we first started, PG purchased 1000
>professionally replicated and printed DVDs for $1000, and that helped us
>keep up with demand for a while.  That was back when dvd-rs cost an average
>of $1 (I think that that was a whole year ago). :)  Lately we've kept up
>thanks to a few key volunteers running their burners virtually
>nonstop.  However, it occurred to me today that if we are going to keep up
>with the rising demand (not to mention future mass giveaways) it might be
>beneficial for PG to invest in a system dedicated solely to DVD
>duplication.  However, when I did some research, I found that such
>duplication machines cost upwards of $1000.  However, when I investigated
>the cost for us to build such a system on our own, as apposed to purchasing
>a manufactured one, the cost came down some.
>
>Here's what such a system would consist of:
>
>A large server case with 11 or more 5.25" front bays.
>1 power supply with enough output
>9 IDE dvd burners
>1 dvd-rom
>1 hard drive
>and 1 Wytron dvd-399 DVD/CD duplication controller.
>
>No motherboard, no memory, no mouse or keyboard.  Apparently all of the
>duplication is controlled by the Wytron controller.  It has a small display
>and a couple buttons on the front.
>
>The approximate cost of all this is as follows (the below prices are not
>exact, but just ballpark figures):
>9 dvd burners at $50 each.
>case $150
>power supply $50.
>Wytron controller $250.
>
>
>I have a hard drive and dvd rom which I would donate.  This gives us a very
>approximate total of $900.  The only thing we might do to bring that down a
>bit would be to get the power supply or case donated, or back off the
>number of burners to 5.  Taking four burners out of the mix would take it
>down $200.
>
>If we did centralize the majority of the DVD production, volunteers would
>be able to focus more on mailing the discs, rather than burning them, and,
>I believe, would enable them to mail more.  Also, it would better position
>us for those huge giveaways Anne is always seeming to come up with, and any
>other situation where a large number of CDs or DVDs are required.
>
>With such a system, we would be able to produce (assuming it takes 12
>minutes to burn a DVD) at least 45 DVDs an hour, or (assuming it takes 4
>minutes to burn a CD) an astonishing 135 CDs per hour.
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>Sincerely
>Aaron Cannon
>
>
>--
>E-mail: cannona at fireantproductions.com
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E-mail: cannona at fireantproductions.com
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