About Our DVDs

Our superb National Specialty videos are supplied to you on high quality Digital Video Disc (DVD) media.  These discs are exactly the same as what you would get for a movie at Blockbuster, or what Netflix would send to you for a movie rental in the mail.

Some of our customers ask us whether or not we ship our videos on "CD".  No, we do not.  Computer Discs (CDs) do not have enough storage space to contain 2 or more hours of video that we typically encode per disc.

However, many customers confuse "CDs" with "DVDs" because they are both discs that you put into an optical drive (DVD or CD) player.  We understand.  Since modern day computers and disc players generally play just about any kind of optical media (CD or DVD), the semantics don't matter much.

WE DO NOT SHIP VIDEOS ON TAPE!  Don't bother to inquire.  We threw away all of our tape equipment many years ago.  The quality of the video was far inferior on tape.  Tapes jam and degrade over time; DVDs do not.  Editing video on tape is a nightmare compared to modern computerized non-linear digital editing systems.

But, if you still own a tape player, congratulations!  We "get it". We still own a record player, too.  But who listens to music on records any more?  Our advice would be to head down to Costco, Walmart, or Best Buy and pick up a DVD player.  At the discount stores they sell for about $50.

PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOUR DVDs!  They are not coasters or frisbees.  They are highly sophisticated optical-digital media.  The encoded video will be damaged if the surfaces of the disc become scratched or nicked from being tossed around, stacked in piles, or dropped on the floor.

WE WILL REPLACE ANY OF OUR DVDs FOR PROVEN SURFACE DEFECTS! 

This does not mean that we will replace our DVDs for mis-handling.  If one of our discs does not play when you receive it, we will accept the disc on return.  We will then perform a surface scan using sophisticated computer equipment.  If the surface of the disc is bad, we will replace your DVD at NO CHARGE.  If instead we see that the disc has been mis-handled, a nominal charge will be requested to replace the disc.

We use nothing but the highest grade, industry standard, Digital Video Disc media.  We have burned tens of thousands of discs and only rarely (1 disc out of 500 - 1000) has there been a problem detected with the actual DVD media itself.

FINAL WORD - ABOUT DVD LASERS

The DVD media is read in a DVD player by a laser that detects the encoded video signal on the disc.  No two lasers are aligned precisely the same; although there is a relatively broad range for laser alignment that permits most discs to be read by most players.  However, with extended use Lasers Do Go Out of Alignment! 

We put our DVD encoders and readers through literal torture tests each year because of our high volume use.  Some lasers have remained in alignment for over 5,000 uses.  Others go out of alignment after just 100 uses.  There does not seem to be any preditable pattern by manufacturer, production year, or equipment model.  We seem to have better luck with Pioneer and Matshita DVD units, but this is highly variable. 

If you find that your DVD plays for some of the disc, but stops part of the way through, the more likely thing is that your laser has gone out of alignment.  We will surely accept the disc on return to evaluate it, but from experience, over 90% of the time the disc tests out to be OK.  Instead, the disc player (laser alignment) is the problem.