Cheaper DVDs

2005-08-20 05:33:20 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I noticed the prices were a little high for the DVDs. I purchase my blank DVDs in bulk from meritline.com and I get great deals like $30 (give or take a few) for 100 DVDs.

Here's a link: http://meritline.com/dvd-r-blank-media-1.html

Thread title:

Tub

Edit history:

Tub: 2005-08-20 05:53:47 am

2005-08-20 05:52:52 am

m00

you're not just paying for the DVD-R's. Nate has to do lots of work to create nice DVD menus, the covers, to burn the DVDs and to ship them. Of course they want to make money with their DVD sales, to pay for the servers you are using.

From the last numbers I heard Radix is still paying more for the servers than he gets back in ads or DVD sales. I'd say the prices are fair, and if you're a fan of this site, you'll even add a little as a donation. :p

(damn, if paypal payments didn't require a cc you'd already have my donation)

Radix

2005-08-20 06:59:06 am

I'm addicted to games

Right, the cost of the disc itself isn't much. There's also the cost of the case, the ink to print the case/disc (not cheap), the mailer to mail it in and of course labor.

nate

2005-08-20 08:31:20 pm

the discs used are verbatim (high quality) 16x printable dvd-r bought in spindles of 100 from sam's club for about 44¢ a disc. 16x dvd-r allows me to duplicate at 8x with maximum player compatibility. some of the volumes are two disc sets ... so that comes to 88¢ for the discs, about $1 for the two disc case, maybe a few cents for the paper and the ink, and quite a few more atm for the gas to get to the post office. (the cost for the discs is actually more, as you have to consider the master discs i copy from, and also coasters.) if i consider myself getting paid minimum wage (as i can't work when i'm burning dvds), and it takes about 22 minutes to burn one disc, that's $3.78 of labor for just one two disc volume (e.g. majora's mask). enjoy the low prices while they last, as it makes no sense for me to lose so much money on this.

VorpalEdge

Edit history:

VorpalEdge: 2005-08-20 09:00:17 pm

2005-08-20 08:45:09 pm

welcome to the machine

I don't think anyone would blame you if you raised the price so that, even if you don't make any profit, you at least don't lose money. :/

bluefiberoptics

2005-08-20 09:02:12 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

What I was wondering is, what about the people that actually made the speed runs? They don't get anything, right?

So the person that hosts the files gets the money?

VorpalEdge

Edit history:

VorpalEdge: 2005-08-20 09:05:30 pm

2005-08-20 09:05:04 pm

welcome to the machine

Someone makes money?

The runs get hosted on archive.org, which is basically trying to host every piece of knowledge or creativity humanity has ever known/created for free. Nobody gets paid anywhere down the line (and some people lose money, as shown above).

Mkt2015

2005-08-21 05:48:59 am

MGS for PS1 forever.

Gee, and I thought Nate was turning into a millionaire by making dvds. Wink

transience

2005-08-22 02:03:29 am

trust the fungus

nate has every right to sell whatever of mine he wants. he talked with me extensively on what settings to record with, he immediately went to work on encoding it the day it got there, he made three different different qualities, and he uploaded them for no charge whatsoever.

then, when his uber vcr came in, he did it all over again, made a dvd and sent me a copy for free. considering the return he's getting, I'd say he can sell whatever of mine for whatever price he chooses.

if I wanted to make money off my runs, I would have done all this myself and then advertised it on my own site. the DVDs aren't there for profit - more for people with crappy connections, people who want high quality, people who want to be able to watch them away from their computer. if you can burn them, great; if not, you can buy a dvd.

nate

2005-08-22 02:05:49 am

yeah, i need to get a blog.

Radix

2005-08-22 03:40:13 am

I'm addicted to games

Quote:

(damn, if paypal payments didn't require a cc you'd already have my donation)

Uh ... I think you read my #donate link wrong. I _can't_ accept CC payments because I have a free pp account. They have to be bank transfer payments.

Andrew_Mills

2005-09-18 07:19:29 pm

AlphaStrategyGui des.com

Quote:

the discs used are verbatim (high quality) 16x printable dvd-r bought in spindles of 100 from sam's club for about 44¢ a disc. 16x dvd-r allows me to duplicate at 8x with maximum player compatibility. some of the volumes are two disc sets ... so that comes to 88¢ for the discs, about $1 for the two disc case, maybe a few cents for the paper and the ink, and quite a few more atm for the gas to get to the post office. (the cost for the discs is actually more, as you have to consider the master discs i copy from, and also coasters.) if i consider myself getting paid minimum wage (as i can't work when i'm burning dvds), and it takes about 22 minutes to burn one disc, that's $3.78 of labor for just one two disc volume (e.g. majora's mask). enjoy the low prices while they last, as it makes no sense for me to lose so much money on this.

I've only just noticed this topic, so sorry for the slight bumpage of it. I can't believe you pay $1 for a DVD jewel case!!! Shocked

MADNESS! You should only be paying 20cents for them TOPS! (Even double disc cases). And why is burning at 8x taking you 22 minutes when it SHOULD be no more than 8mins per disc? 22 mins for a single-layer disc is nuts. heck, that's slower than 4x which only takes 15mins maximum. :-/ Also, start buying unofficial inks for your Epson R200 nate, as you should be able to pick them up for around $2 per colour (making only $12 for a full set). They last just as long as official cartridges and save you a fortune...

Just a few ideas for you to increase your profit margins, that's all...

[quote]the discs used are verbatim (high quality) 16x printable dvd-r bought in spindles of 100 from sam's club for about 44¢ a disc. 16x dvd-r allows me to duplicate at 8x with maximum player compatibility. some of the volumes are two disc sets ... so that comes to 88¢ for the discs, about $1 for the two disc case, maybe a few cents for the paper and the ink, and quite a few more atm for the gas to get to the post office. (the cost for the discs is actually more, as you have to consider the master discs i copy from, and also coasters.) if i consider myself getting paid minimum wage (as i can't work when i'm burning dvds), and it takes about 22 minutes to burn one disc, that's $3.78 of labor for just one two disc volume (e.g. majora's mask). enjoy the low prices while they last, as it makes no sense for me to lose so much money on this.[/quote]

I've only just noticed this topic, so sorry for the slight bumpage of it. I can't believe you pay $1 for a DVD jewel case!!!  :o :o MADNESS! You should only be paying 20cents for them TOPS! (Even double disc cases). And why is burning at 8x taking you 22 minutes when it SHOULD be no more than 8mins per disc? 22 mins for a single-layer disc is nuts. heck, that's slower than 4x which only takes 15mins maximum.  :-/ Also, start buying unofficial inks for your Epson R200 nate, as you should be able to pick them up for around $2 per colour (making only $12 for a full set). They last just as long as official cartridges and save you a fortune...

Just a few ideas for you to increase your profit margins, that's all...

nate

2005-09-18 10:16:44 pm

single disc cases are not the problem ... it's just that i've never seen the double disc cases (full thickness, black) anywhere online or off for less than about 90¢ a case. have never found a way to buy them in bulk of more than 10.

as for the ink, i do buy generic whenever possible, but i'm thinking about moving to a continuous ink system instead, as even the generics cost a pretty penny; see here:
http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?mfrg=epson&series=Stylus+Photo+Series&go=show_ink&model=Stylus+Photo+R200
and here:
http://store.yahoo.com/4inkjets/eprxinkcat0s.html

your dvd burning times are accurate assuming you don't verify. the verification actually takes longer than the burning for me because i have to go from an optical source (so the machine is reading from two drives simultaneously, each at 8x). there's no real economical way around it because i have 140 something discs i'm selling now (ntsc/pal and two disc sets). i consider verification essential because all economical media is crap and there is going to be at least one bad disc on every spindle. replacing products is not fun for anyone.

single disc cases are not the problem ... it's just that i've never seen the double disc cases (full thickness, black) anywhere online or off for less than about 90¢ a case. have never found a way to buy them in bulk of more than 10.

as for the ink, i do buy generic whenever possible, but i'm thinking about moving to a continuous ink system instead, as even the generics cost a pretty penny; see here:
[url]http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?mfrg=epson&series=Stylus+Photo+Series&go=show_ink&model=Stylus+Photo+R200[/url]
and here:
[url]http://store.yahoo.com/4inkjets/eprxinkcat0s.html[/url]

your dvd burning times are accurate assuming you don't verify. the verification actually takes longer than the burning for me because i have to go from an optical source (so the machine is reading from two drives simultaneously, each at 8x). there's no real economical way around it because i have 140 something discs i'm selling now (ntsc/pal and two disc sets). i consider verification essential because all economical media is crap and there is going to be at least one bad disc on every spindle. replacing products is not fun for anyone.

Andrew_Mills

Edit history:

Andrew_Mills: 2005-09-18 10:47:40 pm

2005-09-18 10:35:23 pm

AlphaStrategyGui des.com

I'd never pay more than 20 cents for a double disc DVD case. Surely there must be some decent indie computer stores nearby that could get you in cheaper double cases?

I looked at the continous ink system myself, but I don't seem to like the look of them. The price I can get Epson R200 inks for a stupidly cheap anyways, so unless the reliability of the continous system is just as good as carts, I'll be sticking to cartridges for now methinks.

I don't see the need to verify to be honest. There's going to be a dud on every spindel for sure, but for me the burner just spits ithem ones out and won't burn any further. Apart from discs being scratched in transit (due to the jewel case having a crap grip and thus the disc slipping out and sliding around the case), i've never had someone say it's not worked right. Stick to DVD-R's that use CMC, Ritek or Mitsubishi dyes and you should be fine...

Do you not store the most popular DVD images on your HD so you can burn directly from that instead of copying on the fly? Copying from disc to disc constantly would just do my head in!

This is the place where I used to buy ALL of my DVD/CD/INK requirements from:

http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/CD_DVD_CASES.html

It's based in Scotland (Dundee where I used to live), but based on those links you've shown me, those prices are a rip off... :-/

I'd never pay more than 20 cents for a double disc DVD case. Surely there must be some decent indie computer stores nearby that could get you in cheaper double cases?

I looked at the continous ink system myself, but I don't seem to like the look of them. The price I can get Epson R200 inks for a stupidly cheap anyways, so unless the reliability of the continous system is just as good as carts, I'll be sticking to cartridges for now methinks.

I don't see the need to verify to be honest. There's going to be a dud on every spindel for sure, but for me the burner just spits ithem ones out and won't burn any further. Apart from discs being scratched in transit (due to the jewel case having a crap grip and thus the disc slipping out and sliding around the case), i've never had someone say it's not worked right. Stick to DVD-R's that use CMC, Ritek or Mitsubishi dyes and you should be fine...

Do you not store the most popular DVD images on your HD so you can burn directly from that instead of copying on the fly? Copying from disc to disc constantly would just do my head in!

This is the place where I used to buy ALL of my DVD/CD/INK requirements from:

http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/CD_DVD_CASES.html

It's based in Scotland (Dundee where I used to live), but based on those links you've shown me, those prices are a rip off... :-/

Radix

Edit history:

Radix: 2005-09-18 10:52:04 pm

2005-09-18 10:51:54 pm

I'm addicted to games

Quote:

Do you not store the most popular DVD images on your HD so you can burn directly from that instead of copying on the fly? Copying from disc to disc constantly would just do my head in!

It sounds like a good idea to store dozens dvd images on one drive. Until you remember that hard drive suck. They WILL die eventually.

When that happens... there goes hundreds of hours of work.

If you keep the originals on two dvds each and one goes bad ... just copy it to another master. No work lost. This is cheaper than having two hard drive copies of everything.

Andrew_Mills

2005-09-18 10:54:45 pm

AlphaStrategyGui des.com

Quote:

It sounds like a good idea to store dozens dvd images on one drive. Until you remember that hard drive suck. They WILL die eventually.

When that happens... there goes hundreds of hours of work.

If you keep the originals on two dvds each and one goes bad ... just copy it to another master. No work lost. This is cheaper than having two hard drive copies of everything.

Well, obviously keep a master disc of each, but if your HD fails, then just re-copy all the most popular ones back onto the working HD again and continue. Just use the discs as backups in such cases and leave only the least popular selling DVDs for copying on the fly...

nate

2005-09-18 10:56:08 pm

thanks very much for the link ... i definitely need to stop paying so much for double disc cases. and this is quite relevant now as i move toward releasing the special edition of scarlet's 0:55 100% in super metroid (volume #003), which will be two-disc.

JediTry

2005-09-18 11:40:16 pm

Semi-retired FPS expert

You can also get sweet deals off ebay. I recently bought Intenso CD-R's in double disc cases for less than 50 cents per CD. The cases go to other projects, the CD's on a spindle. I think they even sell DVD's, so that'd be the ideal deal - at a good price.