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CD Duplication & DVD Duplication for Churchesdvd duplication for churches

With advances in technology and the accompanying cost-reductions in recent years, it now makes a lot of sense to offer recordings of sermons, music specials or guest speakers on CDs or DVDs to congregants.

“DVD Duplication has allowed us to instruct our pastors without the need to travel to each location and incur all those travel costs” says Andrew Brady, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Mission Viejo CA. “Before PacificDisc and their DVD duplication services, I had to personally visit each pastor and deliver the same lesson over and over again. Now a single duplicated DVD conveys the entire lesson and I can focus on producing the next series of lessons”.

Brady uses PacificDisc to duplicate all his Bible Training programs, typically orders monthly in batches of 100 fully packaged DVD-Rs at a time, for approximately $3/disc.

Go Beyond Just Recording Sermons.

Brady’s example above demonstrates how new technology and lowering prices makes ministry more effective. Not long ago, duplication meant hours of work with a cassette deck, painstakingly recording one tape at a time. Now both audio and visual assets can be combined on CDs or DVDs and disc duplication has become the norm.

The majority of these discs are meant to be refreshers for congregants and for a way for out-of-towners or shut-ins to remain connected to their church. But discs are also an excellent medium for other uses - such as training manuals and evangelistic tools. In either case the overall appearance of the discs is of critical importance - which is why partnering with PacificDisc is so beneficial. If a disc arrives with a hand written label inside a paper sleeve it is likely that the recipient will pre-judge the contents accordingly and not ever play the disc. But, a full-color disc packaged inside a custom designed case with cellophane wrap stands a much better chance of being viewed.

Duplication vs. Replication

While many smaller churches will only need a handful of copies, larger ministries might require thousand’s of copies. Typically if a project needs less than 300 copies, you should consider duplicated discs, which are “burnt” on a recordable media (DVD-R, CD-R etc). If a project needs more than 300 copies of a particular disc, replication might be more cost-effective IF the project is not so time-sensitive.

In larger quantity, replicated discs are less expensive than duplicated discs, but would take 2-3 weeks to complete, as glass master would be made and then the discs would be replicated on a production line. Whereas duplicated discs can be completed in a matter of a few days on an easy to setup disc duplicator.

Consider these examples:

DVD Project #1 requires 300 copies packaged inside amaray cases, with cover and cellophane wrap:

  • Replicated Discs - $3.15/disc ready in approx. 3 weeks.
  • Duplicated Discs - $2.79/disc ready in approx. 5 days.

DVD Project #2 requires 1200 copies packaged inside amaray cases, with cover and cellophane wrap:

  • Replicated Discs - $1.25/disc ready in approx. 3 weeks
  • Duplicated Discs - $1.99/disc ready in approx. 5 days

So, while replicated discs make more sense some of the time, it is not always the case, so churches should ask questions before placing any orders. Sometimes saving time is more important than saving money and vice versa.

Playability

One other thing to keep in mind is that replicated discs are made from a glass master and are guaranteed to play in all DVD players, computer or portable DVD players. But, duplicated DVDs burnt onto DVD-Rs may have problems being played by everyone. This is because some older DVD players out there aren’t as tolerant as some of the modern ones. On occasion, you will find that someone will not be able to play a disc on their particular player - though the numbers are small (probably less than 5%), they can be a nuisance.

Tips & Tricks

When making duplicated or replicated discs, you should always include your church name and address on the disc face, along with a clear explanation of the disc's content and a numbered list of its chapters. A busy background image can detract from the list's legibility, so the old adage "less is more" certainly applies to on-disc printing.
CDs and DVDs are an excellent medium for reaching shut-ins and traveling members, and for effective twenty-first century evangelism. Small churches can begin with short-run duplication in small batches. Larger ministries should consider disc replication and the obvious per disc cost-savings when ordering in bulk. Disc duplication should be viewed as an important ministry in any size church.