I want to open a DVD Replication company

[snapware]

Does anybody have info on how to purchase Replication equipment?

[TBoneit]

Just visit here and go to the bottom of the Latest forum topics where it says visit our sponsors.

In a really quick look there are four (4) that sell replication equipment here as sponsors....

Support Videohelp & Baldrick, use the links here and visit them.

[snapware]

which ones are you talking about? the bottom left?

[jimmalenko]

Bottom right on the front page:

[celtic_druid]

I checked the two links that mentioned replication. The only one that appeared to sell equipment was selling duplicating equipment only.
Duplication = burning.
Replication = pressing.

[BobK]

I checked the two links that mentioned replication.

Maybe if you contact them they'll tell you where they buy their equipment.

[celtic_druid]

Possible that they don't have any. They might outsource the pressing.

Found something: http://www.acses.co.jp/english/

Not sure if they just do mastering equipment or not though. Still you are going to need equipment for creating glass masters, etc.

I would imagine that there aren't a hole lot of companies making this type of equipment. Not that many making the glass for masters either.

[smearbrick1]

I think you'll find that small companies who claim to do replication, outsource to larger replication facilities.

Some of the local recording studios (this is cd) advertise that they will sell you 1500 copies of your CD for like $900.00 or something with liner notes and the whole deal. They are actually shipping these jobs to WEA manufacturing. It is way too expensive to have that type of equipment in house.

[snapware]

Do you think the equipment is more than $100,000?

I wonder if i can buy the machines and put them in a basement and manufacture dvds down there

[garryheather]

If you're talking about making "real" discs, ie not just running off hundreds of copies onto blanks, hell yeah - you're talking mega bucks. Everything from ultra pure de-ionised water to the silk screening process is expensive and very large, certainly not basement friendly.

Then we get the numerous stages involved in creating the masters (it's not a single step process), melting down and forming the polycarbonate, curing... I'm sure you get the idea. If you're talking about a professional operation you're up against some serious competition by the big hitters who've got money to burn (no pun intended), where-as the pirates invest in a few PC's hooked up to writer based duplicators that run off anywhere from 2 to a hundred discs at a time (http://www.discmakers.com/duplicators/products/pico.asp) and "invest" in the cheapest, nastiest blank media they can find. Some actually outsource to corrupt processing plants to make "genuine copies" (that always makes me laugh) in an attempt to make their fob-offs look real, they don't typically have a cottage industry going on in their garage !

Eg: http://www.stebbing.co.nz/cddvdmanufacturing/stamper/index.htm and http://www.stebbing.co.nz/plantphotos/index.htm

A full plant costs millions to set up, not thousands.