We've been observing the quality of duplicated discs for some time now. After all, it's part of what we do to assess what risks and troubles others are having so that we can avoid hurting our clients with the same issues. We examine the media, the quality of the burn, print, packaging and other technical characteristics. We receive samples from other houses' end clients, usually with a comment or complaint about certain issues.

While we can not and would not ever name names or say something bad about other members of our industry,  we're rather disappointed to see negative changes. Some houses whose quality was beyond reproach have become the Kwiki-Mart of the optical media business. There are numerous factors in play here which are far beyond the scope of this post.

The biggest issue being faced is the quality of the recordable media they're using. We had a sample provided by a client which had failed during the courier trip from the duplication house to the customer. I know we have warm weather in Sydney, but that's barely plausible! Of important note, it had been supplied as 'well known and respected and expensive brand x' but it turnout to be 'brand ????'.

We acquired a few samples of the fresh, unrecorded media and exposed it to 50^oC for 90 minutes. This is roughly the same kind of heat that is common in a closed truck on a sunny day of around 30^oC in Sydney or in a common document and data storage facility that doesn't have a true temperature controlled vault.

We got the exactly the same result that the client asked us to consult on! The discs bubbled. The reflective layer (the shiny bit) bubbled away from the data surface. This made the discs unreadable. Bluntly, we could barely believe our eyes and the boss certainly couldn't. 

Certainly, disaster was averted as the project was remade on time albeit not on budget as the duplication house and courier were still arguing who was at fault.

This brings up two important points:

• Red Circle Media duplication orders are only ever delivered in air-conditioned vehicles. No trucks, no vans, no courier services - our black vehicles bring your discs to you. We deliver your duplication jobs for free (terms and conditions apply in the case of special offers), cool, clean and safe - not hard boiled and heat warped. 

• If the same discs were used to archive important documents for your company - say accounts, legal stuff, financial information and the like - and were stored in a place that became too warm too often, how long do you think your data will be safe? How soon do you think it will be before you can't read the information from the disc anymore?

We are working on a solution for extremely long term (and I mean really long term) media solution at the moment. It's not for everyone and it's not for making thousands of copies, usually speaking. We can't talk about it just yet, but I'm sure it's worth your while to check back with us in a few weeks. It's something very special.

Until soon!