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Tigereye 800, 1600
The Tigereye 800, an eight-drive CD duplicator that features the company’s
user-friendly controller engine, can produce up to 48 full CDs per hour.
The Tigereye 1600 combines the 800 with an eight-drive slave unit so up
to 16 CDs can be copied at one time, or up to 96 full CDs per hour. Both
towers support the simultaneous use of CD-R/RW drives from different manufacturers,
simplifying drive replacement and upgrades. In addition, each tower has
a dedicated CD-ROM drive bay.
The Tigereye duplicators feature the same logic used in earlier Discmatic tower models, which, according to the company, were renowned for their ease of use and reliability. The core logic for both units is stored on an advanced flash ROM rather than on the PC components and operating systems, which can cause reliability problems in some duplicators. In addition, the internal firmware can be quickly and easily upgraded via a firmware CD or by downloading the firmware file from the Discmatic Web site.
The Tigereye series supports all major CD formats. The master disc is automatically analyzed and copied byte for byte, and block for block. Of particular benefit to professional audio users, audio tracks with subcodes, indexes, ISRC, and UPC/MCN are copied.
With a 6-GB internal hard drive, the Tigereye duplicators can store a large volume of data, while Discmatic’s Multiple CD Image Management system makes it easy to manage that data for a wide variety of applications, according to the company. Features include Image Management, which allows files to be loaded, deleted, renamed, and recovered with ease, and Hard Disk Management for efficient use of hard-disk capacity. As a result, users who want to copy the same files and images frequently can store them once on the internal hard drive, eliminating the need to repeatedly acquire and read the master CD.
To make it especially easy to produce sampler discs, an Audio Compilation feature allows selected tracks from a variety of discs to be easily assembled and stored on the internal hard drive as a CD image. From there, a new master is created. For quick copies, the Tigereye duplicators can copy directly from CD to CD rather than having to work through the hard drive, reducing duplication time. They can even save the information to the hard drive during CD-to-CD copying, combining two steps into one.
As with all Discmatic products, the Tigereye towers are designed with
special emphasis on ease of use, so no special training is required, according
to the company. Operation of the flush six-key keypad (Up/ Down, Yes/No,
Enter/Stop) is intuitive, and a large, easily read backlit LCD provides
detailed real-time information about the progress and status of duplication.
To ensure trouble-free duplication, both units offer a number of Sure Copy
features. The Simulation mode, for example, tests CD/drive compatibility
by simulating the copying process without burning CDs. A Verification function
automatically compares both the master and the copied CDs in a single process.
ONYX
Developed and designed by Discmatic, ONYX is a stand-alone 100-disc
machine that supports up to four 8x drives. It offers on-the-fly CD-to-CD
copying, batch copying, and the option of adding a dedicated CD-ROM reader.
Equipped with four 8x drives, it can duplicate 24 full CDs (74 minutes
of audio/650 MB of data) per hour. According to the company, shipments
have only recently begun, but already users are reporting outstanding results.
“As far as stand-alone duplicators go, ONYX is the best we’ve tested. If I have an overnight job, this is the machine I use because I know that when I come back in the morning, the job will be done,” said Petar Krslovic, operations manager for Media Technology, a Ronkonkoma, New York-based duplication service provider. Krslovic notes that his ONYX duplicator is running 24 hours a day, producing 2,000 to 3,000 copies on a daily basis. “Out of all the machines we use, the Discmatic is the most reliable,” he said.
ONYX provides an array of features that make it suitable for a wide range of applications. Among them is the EZ-ONE control firmware, with its core logic stored on an advanced flash ROM rather than on the hard disk drive, which can cause reliability problems in some duplicators. In addition, the internal firmware can be quickly and easily upgraded via a firmware CD, which is available from Discmatic resellers. Unique to ONYX is its patent-pending precision autoloading mechanism that picks up each disc by the rim, lifts it over the spindle, and loads it into any one of the recorders. Another ONYX feature is a front-mounted drive bay where an optional dedicated CD-ROM reader can be installed for those who want the enhanced reading accuracy that such a drive provides. This also permits faster copying of small quantities because copying can be done CD to CD rather than through the unit’s hard drive, and it makes using the audio compilation feature easier.
Another feature that simplifies small-run duplication jobs is multiple drive batch copying, which allows ONYX to duplicate multiple master discs in a single operation. A master and blanks are stacked, followed by the next master and the required number of blanks, and that pattern is followed for each master that’s to be copied.
“Multi-drive automatic duplicators are emerging as the largest part of the market, and customers are asking for units that deliver fast, easy operation,” said Tim Ogawa, director of sales and marketing for CBC (AMERICA) Corp., which markets the Discmatic brand in the U.S. “That’s why we developed ONYX, a unit that combines multiple drives with the speed and capacity of an autoloader. And as a stand-alone unit, it provides the simplicity that many customers demand.”
ONYX supports all major CD formats, including CD-DA (DAO, TAO), CD-EXTRA, Mixed Mode, Multi-session, CD-ROM, HFS, Hybrid, PhotoCD, VideoCD, CD-i, PSX, Sega CD, and Rock Ridge (UNIX).
The Discmatic line of CD duplicators is marketed by CBC (AMERICA) Corp., an ISO 9002 registered company.
Source: Discmatic, Commack, NY, 516/864-9700; Fax: 516/864-9710; http://www.discmatic.com.
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