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Preparing Replication Masters

Sending in masters that work the first time is extremely important - especially if you are on a tight deadline.

General Submission Information

  • All masters are assumed to be production ready; they should be edited and sequenced exactly as the final product is expected to be.
  • Do not send PacificDisc your only copy of a master. While we make every effort to ensure careful handling of masters, you should always, always have a back-up.
  • All masters must be the best quality available, free from errors and any physical damage. Also ensure you package masters very well before shipping.
  • On digital masters, there may be an optional calibration tone of 1Khz @ 16dB below digital peak. At PacificDisc, this equates to 0dB VU.
  • If ISRC codes are needed, they must be recorded correctly onto the master to avoid additional charges. A minimum charge of $125.00 may apply to add or correct ISRC codes.
  • SONY/Philips Red Book standard specifies that a CD should not exceed 74 minutes and 40 seconds or 653Mb. You may exceed that standard up to 78 minutes and 20 seconds or 688Mb without further obligation. But, any master longer than 78:20 or 688Mb will be accepted only if customer signs a Red Book/Yellow Book deviation agreement. Check with your rep if you have questions.
  • - Masters requiring additional quality checks, or that do not meet the recommended specifications may cause delays and/or additional expense.
  • AACS encryption is required for Blu-ray replication. There are additional charges for this encryption. Using AACS encryption adds up to 72 hours to the premastering process.

Acceptable Master Format Descriptionsdvd master

Compact Disc / CD-Recordable

  • All CD-R audio masters should be recorded in a single session (Disc-At-Once) and meet Red Book specifications.
  • Multisession discs must be closed and finalized.
  • Masters containing CD-TEXT must be clearly identified


DDP & CMF Filesets

  • PacificDisc can accept DDP 1.0, DDP 2.0 or DDP 2.1 (also known as CMF 1.0).
  • HD-DVD or Blu-ray images require DDP 3.0 or CMF 2.0 (also known as DDP 3.1).
  • A DDP image may be copied to a DLT, CD-R, DVD-R or to USB or Firewire hard drive and be submitted as a master source.
  • For DVD9, DVD10, DVD14 & DVD18 replication, a master for each layer is required. The masters for each side must be created from the same image. Two separate and distinct images may not be submitted for a DVD9 or a single side of a DVD14 or DVD18


DLT III; DLT IV

  • PacificDisc will accept DLT masters recorded on DLT-2000, DLT-4000, DLT-7000, DLT-8000, DLT-1, DLTVS-80 & DLTVS-160 recorders.
  • Since not all players are compatible, please note which recorder has been used on the DLT label.
  • DLT tapes must contain a DDP or CMF fileset.

DVD-R or DVD+R

  • A DVD-R master may be General Grade or Authoring Grade. Although most General Grade discs are acceptable, PacificDisc cannot guarantee that every General Grade DVD-R will be compatible with our mastering equipment.
  • DVD-R master must have a UDF or ISO9660 file system in order to master.

DVD Replica (Replicated DVD)

  • A previously replicated DVD (DVD5, DVD9, DVD10, DVD14 or DVD18) must not be copy-protected in order to be used as a master format.

Electronic Transfer

  • The PacificDisc Server Network (PSN) is available to clients with ftp access. Contact your sales rep for connection details.
  • All files and folders must be converted to an image file. The image file(s) should then be zipped (compressed) prior to upload.
  • Although .iso images are acceptable, DDP images are recommended and preferred.
  • Each zipped image should contain the DDP files, a listing notice (if audio) and a text file containing the MD5 checksum results for each file.

Preparing DVD Masters for DVD Replication

When preparing your DVD master for replication, it is very important that you do this carefully and perform thorough quality testing. We are not responsible for errors or problems with your original master.

If you are new to DVD authoring, there are numerous books, sites and user manuals to help you learn more about this. Please see our Resources page for some suggestions, or review the DVD Authoring overview.

DVD-5 Replication Mastering
DVD-5 discs may be mastered on DVD-R, DVD+R, or DLT tape (DVD-R preferred). However, if you wish to use CSS, Macrovision, or region coding, you must master on DLT. Please contact us if you have any questions on this.

DVD-9 Replication Mastering
DVD-9 discs require a master to be provided on either a pair of DLT tapes, or on a dual layer DVD+R. We strongly recommend you get a checkdisc when ordering DVD-9 replication from DLT, because of the difficulties manually verifying a DLT master. For example, you can't easily put it into a DVD player and watch it on your TV the way you can with a DVD-R.

When mastering a DVD-9, you must tell us the chapter and time at which the transition between layers occurs. (Layer Time Jump Code)

Submitting Masters for Blu Ray Replication

  • Blu-ray optical disks are replicated from CMF file sets. Note: This is different than the requirements for burning DVD disks from ISO images or other file sets commonly output by many consumer level software packages for authoring DVD’s.
  • Please output the CMF file set to a folder immediately beneath the root directory. i.e. c:\\ not c:\\\\\\. Nested directories add complexity to processing your job.
  • Use Windows Backup to copy the CMF file set to a DLT III or DLT IV cassette. Make sure “Verify After Copy” is turned on in Windows Backup.
  • Label the DLT using a unique content number, and your contact information.
  • The content number MUST be unique across all submissions coming from your company, and should be referenced on your purchase order. This is the identifier we will use to tie the DLT you submit to the program content that will be encoded onto your disks. The number may be up to 35 alpha numeric digits long.
  • Please include contact information for whoever produced the DLT cartridge so we can get in touch quickly if we have questions

Suggested Testing

We strongly recommend that you test your own DVD master carefully before sending it to us. We cannot thoroughly test all aspects of your DVD, nor fix errors with your master. Please keep in mind that once a DVD master has been burnt by you, we cannot "crack" that DVD project back open to make changes.

If you experience a problem with your master it is very unlikely that this error will be fixed by replication. The only exception to this is that if you have an older DVD player, it may not properly play DVD-Rs but will play replicated DVDs correctly. If you experience playback problems with a given DVD player, we strongly suggest you test your disc on a new DVD player to make sure that the issue is the player not the master itself.

If your master is a DVD-R, we suggest you put it in at least two different set-top DVD players and check the following:

  1. Make sure the video plays properly from start to end. Often errors occur in the middle of discs, so don't just play the first chapter and assume the rest of the disc is good. Watch for stuttering video, frozen frames, or video that jumps to other points on the disc incorrectly.
  2. Listen very carefully to the audio to make sure it is in sync and doesn't contain any clicks, pops, or distortion. Using high quality headphones is helpful in hearing the audio properly.
  3. Check all chapter points to make sure they start at the correct time.
  4. Make sure all navigation elements (menus, buttons, etc.) work properly.
  5. If it is a hybrid DVD, or a DVD-ROM, check it on both PC and Mac computers to make sure the files are visible and can be played and/or copied to the computer. Use the disc the way you expect your customers will use it and verify that it performs as anticipated.

If your master is on DLT, there are software programs and systems which enable you to check it, such as Sonic's PrePlay. We suggest you follow the recommendations of the software or other verification system to check your DLT master. We also strongly suggest you get a check disc and run it through the tests outlined above for DVD-R masters.

Sending Us Your CD, DVD or Blu ray Master

Please send us two copies of your master, whenever possible, clearly labeled with all your contact information, including name, job name, phone number, email, and mailing address. Do not send us your only copy, as we cannot guarantee your masters will get damaged in transit.