DVD Duplication News, Dallas Texas

I have found one thing that I can not avoid with DVD’s and children and that is they get scratched. For me growing up in the VHS Tape and Beta Tape era this was never a problem although I did scratch a few of my fathers vinyl records back in the day. One solution I have come up with is the first thing I do when I buy a new DVD is burn a backup copy on a DVD-R and store the original Retail Packaged DVD in a safe place.

Unfortunately many of the newer titles on DVD contain copy protection on them making the backup copy not possible but I have found that a lot of Children’s DVD’s are replicated without Copy Protection which is nice for allowing us to make a back up copy of DVD’s we purchase. After I have completed the backup copy this is the DVD that the kids can use in the car, at home or on airplane trips. And in the event they decided to keep the DVD-R on the ground and crack it or scratch it I just go through the process again and burn another DVD-R from the original.

Also to organize all the DVD-R back ups I have for them I bought a nice 100 Disc Album Case with vinyl sleeves that works great.

Rick Krainak

Duplium

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The movie “Lost Colony: The Legend of Roanoke” is an interesting sci-fi movie for people who are fans of low budget Sci-Fi movies. The movie is based on one of the several theories which were proposed to describe the fate of the first English colony which was established in America.

It is believed that in 1587, a group comprising of 117 brave men and women had set out to establish this colony and were among the first ones to land at the Roanoke Island in America. They very, well established the colony there, only to mysteriously disappear one fine morning. This movie tries to figure out the possible reasons for their surprising disappearing act altogether, though the theory on which it tries to explain their disappearance can simply be termed “outlandish”.

The movie tends to get pretty loud and dumb at several occasions, yet it is perfect for people who are simply looking for an entertaining sci-fi flick for a Saturday afternoon siesta. Although the acting and the inclusion of CGI Vikings who presumably take over the entire colony is pretty substandard, this movie could be watched at least once for its highly entertaining and mildly amusing kind of screenplay.

Most of the locations used while making the movie and scenery shots are spectacular which add the visual appeal of the film. The movie, if viewed on a DVD, promises to be widescreen with sharp images and colors. The DVD quality of this movie does have some minor artifacts and other distracting signal noises, but the Dolby-digital soundtrack helps to negate their effect.

“Lost Colony: The Legend of Roanoke is also available with Spanish subtitles. The dialogues and sound effects are simply superb which add to the overall viewing experience.

Since this movie is based on an historical concept, its story is no mystery, but one can still watch it for the sake of superb soundtrack, dialogues and scenic views.

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Supply chain management (SCM) is the process of planning, implementing and controlling the operations of the supply chain as efficiently as possible. Supply Chain Management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point-of-origin to point-of-consumption.

Another way to explain this, is that Supply Chain Management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. More recently, the loosely coupled, self-organizing network of businesses that cooperates to provide product and service offerings has been called the Extended Enterprise.

Supply chain management is a cross-functional approach to manage the movement of raw materials into an organization, certain aspects of the internal processing of materials into finished goods, and then the movement of finished goods out of the organization toward the end-consumer. As organizations strive to focus on core competencies and becoming more flexible, they have reduced their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels. These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other entities that can perform the activities better or more cost effectively. The effect is to increase the number of organizations involved in satisfying customer demand, while reducing management control of daily logistics operations. Less control and more supply chain partners led to the creation of supply chain management concepts. The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and improving inventory velocity.

Several models have been proposed for understanding the activities required to manage material movements across organizational and functional boundaries. SCOR is a supply chain management model promoted by the Supply Chain Management Council. Another model is the SCM Model proposed by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF). Supply chain activities can be grouped into strategic, tactical, and operational levels of activities.

Strategic

• Strategic network optimization, including the number, location, and size of warehouses, distribution centers and facilities.
• Strategic partnership with suppliers, distributors, and customers, creating communication channels for critical information and operational improvements such as cross docking, direct shipping, and third-party logistics.
• Product design coordination, so that new and existing products can be optimally integrated into the supply chain, load management
• Information Technology infrastructure, to support supply chain operations.
• Where-to-make and what-to-make-or-buy decisions
• Aligning overall organizational strategy with supply strategy.

Tactical

• Sourcing contracts and other purchasing decisions.
• Production decisions, including contracting, locations, scheduling, and planning process definition.
• Inventory decisions, including quantity, location, and quality of inventory.
• Transportation strategy, including frequency, routes, and contracting.
• Benchmarking of all operations against competitors and implementation of best practices throughout the enterprise.
• Milestone payments
• focus on customer demand.

Operational

• Daily production and distribution planning, including all nodes in the supply chain.
• Production scheduling for each manufacturing facility in the supply chain (minute by minute).
• Demand planning and forecasting, coordinating the demand forecast of all customers and sharing the forecast with all suppliers.
• Sourcing planning, including current inventory and forecast demand, in collaboration with all suppliers.
• Inbound operations, including transportation from suppliers and receiving inventory.
• Production operations, including the consumption of materials and flow of finished goods.
• Outbound operations, including all fulfillment activities and transportation to customers.
• Order promising, accounting for all constraints in the supply chain, including all suppliers, manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and other customers.

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Bella, an independent drama directed by Alejandro Gomez Montverde is as good as 2006’s Crash, just without the undeniable interconnectivity. It is a marvelously shot and suitably acted tearjerker, nevertheless, it soars so on the top in scripting decisions as well as the situational inconsistencies that it feels much like the soap opera rather than a delicate film on a powerful topic.

Bella captures the New York City as it churns and bustles at one ordinary day. The main focus is on the family operated eating-place and the head chef of that restaurant (Eduardo Verastegui) Jose, as they arrange for a very important day, which includes entertaining a significant sizeable party. Being the head of all the chef under the supervision of (Manny Lopez) Manny, his brother, is not the career of his choice, although, once he was a renowned soccer star with a nice bright and fruitful future.

However, a road accident changed his life in a short snap right in front of his eyes. The starting of the film addresses us with his life before the misfortune and directly follows it with the beard-laden, downhearted temper, which trail after he acclimatizes to the wretchedness of his mistakes.

The transformation of Jose is actually not the centre point of the movie it is the after affects of the accident and Jose interaction with the people close to him especially the good-looking young waitress (Tammy Blanchard) Nina, whose working life in the restaurant gets completely affected by the news of her pregnancy. There is a very nice instance in the movie, when Nina scrounges in her purse to amass cash for her pregnancy test, just to make out that she should plead with the teller to front Nina the remaining cash. Nina’s expression as she quietly interacts with the cashier exemplifies some of the valid emotions and humanism behind Bella.

The movie is obtainable in a 1.78:1 disc, which offers a fine presentation overall including the quality of the picture, color and volume. The audio is available in Dolby 5.1, with a combination of Spanish and mainly English language. Apart, a great collection of behind the scenes and some interviews during the making are accessible as well.

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I recently joined the force here at Duplium with an empty, but eager head! Over the past few weeks I have been shadowing some of our department heads and learning their particular areas of expertise. I can honestly say I am floored by all we have to offer. When you start a new job, I believe it is expected to be somewhat sceptical of the company; learning methods, customer service relations, marketing strategies, following up, down to the people themselves.

After being on board for just a week I knew that working for Duplium was going to be something I was proud of, and that I would have confidence in all that we do. We are a team here, and when you work with us you will “have your cake and eat it too!” Not only will we make your CD/DVD, we will print your logo/art on the CD/DVD itself, we will do your print on the outer sleeve , print and insert anything you may want in the case, shrink wrap it, add it or kit anything it may go with, box it, store it, and ship it. Once we have an order in our hands, the ball is out of your court, and we are slam dunking it in ours.

When I say “turn key solution” I mean it! And, we have an outstanding portal made by Duplium for Duplium that you can access anywhere anytime with your personal product and account information so you can monitor any and all of your business needs. I am so proud and honored to be part of a company with such a great foundation!

Holly Crow, Director of SPM 3PL North America

Lucky star is a Japanese comic strip by Kagami Yoshimizu which is serialized in the Comptiq magazine from January 2004. Other magazines like Shonen Ace, Newtype, Dragon Magazine, CompAce, Kadokawa Hotline and Mobile Newtype also published its cameo strips. The four main characters of the strip are: Konata who is an intelligent and athletic girl dedicated to the prime time animes of her choice to do extremely well in everything but in otaku culture; Miyuki who is a cute living creature who wears specs and has encyclopedic knowledge on almost every subject; Kagami who is a sweet-bitter, tough and shy girl who likes to read light novels but feels alone because nobody in her group shares this interest with her; and Tsukasa, her twin younger sister who is a air-headed klutz, she is not good at studies neither in sports but is an excellent cook.

The comic strip does not have an on-going plot but typically focuses upon the everyday lives of its characters. The Lucky Star, Vol. 1 was released on 8th January 2005, followed by four more volumes. The show appears to have great sense of humor and despite the perky characters, four panel origin and attractive style of art, the show is set on low-keys. As the volume moves forward, we are able to know the characters.

The Lucky Star, Vol. 1 available in DVD is a wide-screen anamorphic transfer and the quality of the video is just excellent. Due to its great presentation values and fantastic design, the show shines manifolds. There is no compression, grain, cross-coloration or aliasing and the bright style of art allows a very vibrant display. As far as audio is concerned, the choice 2.0 Digital Dolby presentation is just perfect for the plot. The DVD of Lucky Star Vol. 1 includes the trailers, textless opening and promotional clips of the show. In terms of characters, potential and design, the volume is quite appealing and attractive.

Chris- Duplium Dallas - Dallas DVD Duplication Expert http://www.duplium.com

The real west-cowboys & outlaws, is yet another masterpiece by the history channel which has been hosted by Kenny rogers. Each of the episodes has been hosted and narrated superbly well and succeeds in making the viewers faun over the show. His authenticity and creativity has produced charm to virtually all the episodes. The talent of roger is exposed to the fullest as large varieties of topics have been discussed. Narrative is of paramount importance in the documentaries of history channels and the ultimate collection of the real west could not have got better host than him.

The different discs of the real west-cowboys &outlaws:

1. “buffalo bill & his wild west” and “wild bill hickok”
2. “the real west: legendary cowboys” and “the law behind the tin star”
3. “the James gang” and “the Texas rangers”

The first episode gives detailed insight into lives of James butler hickok and William Frederick Cody. The former documentary particularly revolves around the incidents of life where he plays the role of soldier, scout, showman and eminently features his high rise to the celebrity status. Different stories and plays were released for depicting his adventures and accomplishments. The penchants of hickok for gun-fighting and gambling became legendary success and the documentary chronicles his trip from the acme of fame to the point of time he transited into an irrelevant personality.

The disc two has featured broad topics and discusses in length about the lives of, cowboys in very general terms and do not touch the lives of specific personas of any time period. Rather the documentary revolves around the involvement of the cowboy with the cattle driving and how the living legend grows in those surroundings. The other one focused on the issues of law and justice. Hickok is introduced into the documentary for the kind of information which is somewhat redundant.

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Lipstick Jungle, based on a novel of 2005 by Candace Bushnell, draws comparison with the ‘Sex and the City’ which is another show depicting powerful and successful businesswomen of New York. The story of Lipstick Jungle revolves around Wendy Healy (played by Brooke Shields), Nico Reilly (played by Kim Raver) and Victory Ford (played by Lindsay Price), the three friends and successful at their work.

The Wall Street magazine has included them in its list of top 50 powerful women, but recently Victory has fallen in her work due to a disaster at the Fashion Week of New York. Soon, she meets Joe Bennett (played by Andrew McCarthy), a wealthy businessman, giving way to a relationship during her attempts to reinvent her creativity. In the mean while, Wendy has to balance her work with her domestic life, raising 2 children and her husband Shane (played by Paul Blackthorne). Nico gets married to Charles (Christopher Cousins), a professor, whose relationship soon looses its passion.

Without setting up a drama, during the first episode itself Nico strikes an affair with Kirby Atwood, a young photo assistant, Victory fires off her employees and moves her office to her home and Wendy fends off the tell-all book on her. The show is an attempt to balance the struggles of women with friendship, love and work through sometimes comedy and sometimes drama giving entertainment as a result. The seven episodes of Lipstick Jungle:

1.             Pilot
2.             Nothing Sacred
3.             Pink Poison
4.             Bombay Highway
5.             Dressed to Kill
6.             Take the High Road
7.             Carpe Threesome

The seven episodes are available on two discs in 1.78:1 transfer improved for wider screens. With soft presentation and subdued colors, it is a fine presentation overall. The sound surround track is 5.1 and dialogues are never problematic as a solid work is done by the track throughout. In addition to the trailers, there is a collection of deleted scenes that were enjoyable too.

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Unless you know me, you probably don’t know what a martial arts enthusiast I am, having been in and around the martial arts world now for 25 years. Starting with TaeKwonDo years ago during my early college years, through Karate through my later college years to Ninjutsu (the art of the Ninja) post-college years. It has been a passion since age 6 thanks to the old “Kung Fu” series back in the 70’s (yes, I am THAT old!).

When I came to Duplium almost four years ago, one of the first clients I brought in was Century Martial Arts, the largest manufacturer of MA equipment and uniforms in the world, based in Oklahoma City (www.centurymartialarts.com). They own the Martial Arts Industry Association or MAIA (www.masuccess.com), which is a trade organization for the MA world, reaching out to over 20,000 instructors and school owners each month with “MA Success,” their trade magazine.

I have written for “MA Success” before, but this month have a new article out entitled “From the Bat to the Mat” addressing how instructors can market their programs in conjunction with major Hollywood releases, such as this summer’s “Batman” release hitting theaters July 18th. KFM or Keysi Fighting Method was the style/system utilized by Christian Bale in the new film franchise. KFM Founders, Justo Dieguez and Andy Norman, also happen to be new clients here at Duplium as they launch their first 3-part DVD series (available on their website and via DVD in early July). With my ties to both KFM and “MA Success” I penned the article mentioned above.

In addition, another article will soon be appearing (mid July) in “Black Belt Magazine” which goes to the masses and available at most major bookstore and grocery store news stands. This, too, features KFM and the how and why it was utilized for the Batman franchise.

So if you are an enthusiast yourself, be looking for the article soon in “Black Belt Magazine” or if you just happen to be an instructor and receive “MA Success” then look for the article I wrote this month as well.

It has been a great pleasure to bring many martial arts DVD projects in house here at Duplium, KFM being no exception. Check out their website at www.keysikfm.com and be sure to order their new DVD’s online this July! And do not miss “The Dark Knight” (http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/) out in theaters this July 18th!

Acme Filmworks of Hollywood has brought us an incredible project in their DVD series, “The Animation Show of Shows.” This 18-disc DVD set (6 DVD’s in each of 3 box sets) will feature never-before collected animated cartoons by artists from around the world. In fact, 200 of these box sets will have the DVD wraps signed by the actual animators from all over the globe. How cool is THAT?! Check out their online advertisement at http://www.filmporium.com.

Some of the reviews for this series come from well-known animators and animation companies including Matt Groening of “The Simpsons,” Stephen Hillenburg of “Sponge Bob Square Pants,” Ed Catmull, President of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and Roy Disney of the Disney family. Other director comments come from Andrew Stanton, the Director of “Finding Nemo,” Chris Wedge, the Director of “Ice Age,” and Pete Docter, Director of “Monsters, Inc.” All in all, a very impressive list of commentators on this series.

The series offers such titles as Gopher Broke, City Paradise, Astronauts, Hilary, Jolly Roger, Strange Invaders, Mr. Head, Bob’s Birthday, The Monk and the Fish, and The Cat Came Back. Other international animation shorts are also included, so this represents an incredible collection for animation enthusiasts (not just children) of all ages.

Whether it is for kids at home, or kids at college studying animation; whether for your school library or a donation to your local college library, the “Animation Show of Shows” will make an incredible gift at an unbelievable price at just either $30 per set of 6 DVD’s or $90 for all 18 DVD’s! Kudos to Acme Filmworks for such a unique and fantastic collection now available to the buying public!