There is a lot of discussion about being “Green” these days and protecting the environment. With various countries, states, cities, and even companies enacting eco friendly regulations for CE products, it looks as though we’ve turned a corner in environmental protection. These changes are showing up everywhere from bans on using unhealthy substances in the manufacturer of products to companies sending holiday eCards as apposed to paper cards to save trees. This is a wonderful change to the days of excess and pollution from days gone by.

My question is, how much are we really saving the environment when the lifespan of many CE products like computers, televisions, and gaming consoles are getting shorter and shorter. Maybe the products are more eco friendly, but when it’s cheaper for consumers to purchase a new TV then fix an older model, we are finding that older equipment (many of which are not that old) are ending up in our landfills rather than in living rooms. Today’s society is hungry for the latest and greatest and we don’t want to pay very much for it. So retailers need lower pricing and force the manufacturers to find cheaper sources of parts and labor to accommodate thereby reducing the number of blue collar jobs in the developed Western Nations, reducing the size and disposable income of the middle class. With less money to spend on discretionary purchases, they demand lower prices and the cycle repeats itself.

In the duplicator industry I see this a lot with optical disc drives. Early on, the drives were very expensive but they would last longer. Not only would the physical drive last longer, but each particular model would have a longer lifespan. Now we’re lucky if a particular drive model lasts more than 6 months. Innovation is not a bad thing, but when production of a specific model is shorter than the warranty period for that item, it causes plenty of headache and complications. Plus the fact that the drives have become so inexpensive, consumers would rather throw them away and buy new ones than try to fix them.

So my point is, even though the CE products are more eco friendly in their construction and design, how environmentally friendly are they when they are filling up our landfills? Although, more and more companies are participating in a recycling program, I just hope the consumers are willing to cooperate.

From my previous blog I discussed how DVD kiosks will be the future for movie purchases and rentals. It was mentioned that this process has become more of a reality because the method by which the content protection encoded in the discs has been relaxed to incorporate newer technology. What I didn’t mention was the most important feature in this whole process, the robotic duplicator “autoloader” which controls the entire process.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you’ve burned a disc at least once through your computer or a dedicated duplicator like the Vinpower Digital SharkCopier or TITAN series. The basic principal is simple enough, load a blank disc into a writer drive and information from an alternative source (HDD or reader) is burned onto the blank disc. This is a simplified explanation, but gives one the basic principal of how a duplicated disc is created. However, to build a kiosk, you can’t count on a user loading and unloading the blank disc that is meant to be duplicated. That’s where the autoloader comes in.

An autoloader is a duplicator with a robotic arm that can be programmed to pick up blank discs from a specified stack, load them into the corresponding writer drives and or printer and then remove the finished disc and place them in a specific location. It all sounds so very simple, there are so many variables that come into play that it’s actually far more complicated than one may imagine.

That’s why the number of autoloaders on the market is dwarfed compared to the number of manual towers available. Manual towers are easy to build given the right parts, but autoloaders are extremely complicated to build if you don’t have the knowledge and experience to do so. If done right, the autoloader is extremely easy to operate and runs flawlessly 24/7 as intended. If not, the user ends up working harder to get the unit to work than if they had just made the copies manually on a tower. The whole purpose of an autoloader is to make duplication easier and capable of producing higher volumes than humans who need to eat, sleep, and take bathroom breaks.

So when you see one of these DVD kiosks in the future, now that inside there’s an autoloader like a Vinpower Digital TITAN working hard and tirelessly to provide you with the content you want.

Hitachi, a firm supporter of the Blu-ray format, recently announced that they plan to release a Blu-ray camcorder with a built-in Blu-ray burner within 1 to 2 years.  This new camcorder would use an 8cm Blu-ray disc, (not currently on the market), which they intend to be able to record up to 1 hour of Hi-Def video.  A standard single layer DVD holds 4.7GB of data.  Since the current single layer Blu-ray disc holds over 5 times more data at 25GB, it’s imagined that the 8cm Blu-ray disc will be comparable in its added data storage capability over the 8cm DVD which can hold 1.4GB.  If the price can be competitive, look for this camcorder to be a big hit with video enthusiast.

On a recent business trip to Toronto, Ontario, Canada I visited the CBC offices.  CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: Canada’s national public broadcaster.  In the building is a small museum of sorts which was very interesting and informative.  There was equipment and artifacts used in broadcasting throughout the CBC’s history with editorial information explaining the importance and time line for that item.

One of the artifacts I found interesting was a recordable turntable that would record live music/spoken word directly onto an empty vinyl disc at either 33 1/3 or 78 RPMs.  This was a precursor to our modern day duplicators used over 50 years ago.  For those who are not familiar with what vinyl is, they were the original records and were made out of wax with grooves carved in a circular pattern to record and play the music, spoken word, etc.

To me, this shows that the duplication process and duplicating equipment is not as modern as we may think.  The equipment has been around and in use for many years, but it’s only recently been convenient and affordable enough for common everyday use by the masses.  That’s why I see duplication not only continuing long into the future, but also flourishing as a consumer electronic product as common in the office or home as a printer/copier.

This is an image of me posing with the Presto 8N acetate engraver.  It’s much larger than the modern duplicators like the Vinpower Digital SharkCopier.

The descriptive plaque describing the Presto 8N acetate engraver.

There’s been a lot of discussion and speculation that direct video access (on-demand service) through a PC or cable/satellite provider will replace the DVD format for movie viewing by the masses, current research contradicts this assumption.  Even though the development of high speed internet access and fiber optic cables allows movies to be downloaded quickly and provided in high-definition from the internet or through cable/satellite providers, consumers are still sticking with the tangible DVD format.

As evident from current sales, consumers are still enamored with the optical disc such as the DVD format.  According to data recently published on One to One online (25 July, 2007), in 2006 consumers spent US $23 Billion on DVD purchases and rentals compared to $932 million for on-demand services through the internet, cable or satellite.  Even though on-demand service is a growing industry, there’s still a wide gap between it and the market for a physical DVD.

As the DVD format capacity grows with the introduction of Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, consumers will still have a draw for physical media that they can keep over an intangible on-demand service.  This shows me that there is still significant growth ahead for the “DVD” format in its various incarnations compared to digital transmission of data over a computer or television.  So for those wondering if duplication is still a wise investment, I can say there are 23 billion reasons to say yes!

I read an interesting article recently on the mecca of information, www.cnn.com. It spoke of a new technology making the rounds for the optical disc industry to help the retail market prevent theft. The new technology is a microchip placed inside an optical media disc (i.e. CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) that if not activated will render the entire disc useless. It’s a remarkable new technology that prevents critical information on a disc from being read by a DVD player, video game console, etc so that it’s completely inoperable. When this chip is activated, by sending and electronic pulse through the disc to turn the chip from a solid color to clear, the disc is playable.

This opens up a lot more options for retail outlets to carry these products without the fear of high theft rates. Due to the small size of optical discs, even in their packaging, they are an easy target for theft. It’s estimated that theft of electronic products including optical discs accounts for $400 million in loss revenue for retailers every year according to Entertainment Merchants Associations. With this new chip, retailers can display these items again with far less fear of loss due to theft. With more retailers willing to carry these products like movies, video games, etc., and fewer losses due to theft, sales for these items are certain to explode even more than the current levels.

This is a good time to start selling product on optical media or producing content and be ahead of the game.