DVD duplicator question

[M A V I C]

So the end story from last week is that my DiscMakers' 10 drive DVD duplicator had a cheap power supply which burned out and killed all 10 drives. The controller and HD were still good. I was able to jumper an ATX PSU and buy five new drives to get the work done on time.

Now I'm rebuilding the machine. It's out of warranty (only 1yr) and DiscMakers' wants me to pay shipping both ways across country, $150 bench fee, plus parts. I can get parts at wholesale, plus now seeing the crappy PSU it came with, I want something better in it.

In searching, I discovered that the DiscMakers' duplicators are nothing more than rebranded ILY duplicators. The controller might be from another company, I can't confirm that, but everything else is ILY. The controller may be too, I'm just not 100% positive.

It came to my attention that there are now lightscribe duplicators. This would be a HUGE advantage for me. So I'm looking for lightscribe controllers. There's no point in me buying a whole new duplicator for $1k when the parts will cost maybe $600 tops, but I already have the case and five lightscribe drives, so more like another $300 or so.

Does anyone know where I can find a lightscribe controller? I've found a lot of other controllers, duplicators with lightscribe, but not a controller that lists lightscribe as a capability.

Thanks.

[GGD]

M A V I C wrote:
It's out of warranty (only 1yr)

How old is it? AMEX Card extended warranty? That won't get you the better duplicator that you desire, but might get some cash that you could put towards it.

[M A V I C]

GGD wrote:
[quote=M A V I C]
It's out of warranty (only 1yr)

How old is it? AMEX Card extended warranty? That won't get you the better duplicator that you desire, but might get some cash that you could put towards it.
Thanks for the reminder. Yeah, was purchased with Amex but it had a 1yr warranty and it's now about 2yrs 5mo old. I'm pretty sure Amex will only extend the warranty by 1yr.

[onthedownlow]

A little different, but I've had an ElitePro2 for a few years (they don't make them anymore) and have been very happy, although I do recall a calibration issue early on I had to fix, but probably was due to the crate/shipping.

Yea, you can definitely put something together yourself. They have always charged for shipping (expensive) for any of the warranty work, which I don't agree with.

[Racer X]

I like your idea of building it back up better.

[M A V I C]

Racer X wrote:
I like your idea of building it back up better.

And considering I do b&w labels, lightscribe would be sooooo sweet.

[Racer X]

my thought too. What extra time does burning the label take? I have never looked into Lightscribe tech.

[M A V I C]

Racer X wrote:
my thought too. What extra time does burning the label take? I have never looked into Lightscribe tech.

I don't know, I've never used it either.

[btfc]

Slooooooooooooooow!

[onthedownlow]

For best quality on average you are looking at 20+ minutes per lightscribe burn on the disc with moderate coverage (graphics/text). It's great, but patience is definitely needed. I've been using it for years now.