CD and DVD content Specifications

Simply the main rule is to just record your master discs at a slower speed, say 16x for CD and 8x speed for DVD.

Do not send us both the content and any artwork such as a disc label on the same disc!

If you are not a technician, and your disc works in your mate's computer, it is usually OK for duplicating.

Do not use Packet-Writing!

Adaptec’s Direct-CD and Nero’s InCD both allow you to write Packet-written CDs. Packet writing was designed so that you could save bits of information at different times to a CD as you work. It writes the disc in a different way to the CD standard, so the disc created cannot be used for duplication. If you supply us a packet-written disc, we will have to re-master it adding to the cost, and causing delay.

Check your content

Discount Disc Duplication Pty Ltd do not run or check the content of your discs before duplicating. We only check that it is good enough to copy, and when we duplicate it our technology creates a almost perfect master technically, but with all your content, right or wrong.
You should check and it is your responsibility to check that the content of your discs works properly on a variety of players, and on a different computers and operating systems.
When creating multimedia content, only use popular playback formats unless absolutely necessary
Use popular fonts, like Arial, Helvetica or Times, which are in almost every computer. If you have used an special font, play your discs in a computer that doesn’t have the font you’ve used.
Embed images that are in a presentation, such as PowerPoint, not just linked to a file on your local system.
Operating systems change with each new version, so if you are making your disc playable in both Windows and Macintosh computers, ensure that it works in Mac OS9 and MacOSX.
Avoid long filenames in discs, keeping names to less than 31 characters for best compatibility with MacOS9 and earlier. Older versions of the Windows operating system were limited to 64 characters
For really maximum compatibility, use the old MS-DOS naming system of eight characters plus a three letter extension.
It is always best to only use alpha-numeric characters in file names, except the underscore (_) and hyphen (-).
The forward slash symbol (/) is used in Macintosh file names, but is incompatible with MS-DOS and Windows. Macintosh accepts spaces at the beginning or end of file names but is not incompatible with MS-DOS and Windows.

Ways to send us data and designs

If you are unable to supply a data CD or DVD master, you can also supply data in the following ways (Additional charges may apply. Also allow extra time for you to check a copy of the master):

The best way is on a CD or DVD or Blu-ray exactly as you would wish the duplication to be produced.
Email to info@disc-duplication.com.au
(maximum safe file size by email - 5 MB)
FTP - Ask us for FTP details and instructions.
Flash memory or USB stick.
Hard Drive, which will be returned to you!

Detailed Technical Instructions

Choose the correct mode

Most data CDs should be recorded Mode 1, rather than Mode 2XA.
Data on a CD-ROM is stored in sectors, or blocks of data. Each sector holds 2,352 bytes of data.

On a Mode 1 disc:

16 bytes of data is used to identify to the CD-ROM reader the location and identity of the block.
Then follows 2,048 bytes of user data.
There is also 304 bytes of extra error correction, above and beyond the standard error correction that exists on all CDs. This is needed because CD-ROM data is less tolerant to faults than audio CDs.
Because of this extra correction CDs are very tolerant of scratches.