[dvdvol] the ultimate burning system!!!

[Aaron Cannon]

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


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E-mail: cannona at fireantproductions.com
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