Very good product. I have been using an older automatic duplicator but it started acting up so I went back to burning one-at-a-time using my computer's drive. I could get about 4-5 per hour that way. I recently had and order for 150+ discs of a video I recorded for a school show. I didn't look forward to the prospect of spending close to 40 hours just feeding discs. So I started researching duplicators and found the Produplicator line of products.

The 1-5 unit fit my budget. I chose the M-Disc unit simply because I wanted to see what that format is like. My current need doesn't require it, but it was a nice bonus. I haven't had a chance to play with that yet though.

The unit arrived well packed and from the outside it looks like a small to midsize tower PC. The instructions were very straightforward and complete. I normally like to just fire equipment up and try things out without the instructions. For me, if the interface isn't intuitive out of the gate I know I will be having to consult the manual every time I use it because I will have forgotten something. The interface on the this Produplicator is pretty simple and the unit boots very quickly which is nice since I only power it when I have some duplicating to do so being able to get going quickly is a big plus.

I'd rate the out-of-the-box-no-instruction operation at a 7 on a scale of 1-10. Because the LCD is just a couple of lines, there isn't a lot of clues as to how to get going, but since this isn't meant for a pure novice that's okay. Without consulting the manual I was able to put in a master and fire off copies in about 10 minutes of looking around the hierarchical menus. I have subsequently taken time to look over the manual and have since setup some options. I've come back to the unit a couple of times now after long (days) breaks and had no trouble remembering the simple stuff.

One aspect of this unit that I didn't care for was where in the tower the control panel is placed. The master drive is on top with two duplicator drives below it followed by the control panel and 3 more duplicator drives below that. With drives 2 & 3 open the controls are sandwiched in between and it's hard to see the display or reach the controls. Although I probably voided some warranty, I opened up the case. As you can imagine it's pretty straightforward. A bunch of power and SATA cables connecting the drives to the control board. Power supply is on the bottom which lends some weight to the unit and it feels rock solid (as opposed to having it mounted up high where these things sometimes feel like tip hazards). I took the liberty to move the control panel to the top, with the master drive just below it, followed by the 5 duplicator drives. That is a much easier configuration for me.

Performance wise this unit is great. I can knock out 5 copies in about 8-9 minutes, so that works out to about 25-30 and hour which for my previous order, meant I only needed 5 hours to get the job done. I really like the status indicator showing how much burning is left, both in bytes and %. I could fire this up, turn around do some work on the computer and glance occasionally to see how it was going. I did have one bad disk and the unit did a good job of telling me and popping the disc out. I've used the unit now to fulfill several orders and it's been a breeze. My prior unit was nice in that I could load up a stack of 100+ discs and walk away, but it would take many hours of two burns at a time (4-8x) to complete. I was a little leary of having to feed this unit, but like I said it fit right in with other things I was doing and really didn't require a lot of time to tend to.

My unit appears to be able to have a HD installed, allowing for images to be stored from the master disc. The manual has instructions for how to do this via menus and I may try it at some point. There isn't much information however about any special needs for the drive (format, capacity, etc.), but then again the unit didn't come advertised with one so I understand not everything will be laid out.

Overall, very happy.

It arrived yesterday. I was busy when UPS arrived and it ate at me dying to use it. Finally I crawled out of bed at 3 am this morning as I couldn't wait any longer. I own a small recording studio and record local bands and church choirs etc. both audio and video. Just making them copies of their work and some only want 100 copies or less, anymore that that I would out source to a mail order duplication company who do a great job but very and I mean very pricey. Even 1000 copies cost over $1 each and less than that up to $3 each copy. I would just record them through my computer. 10 minutes or so for an audio cd and 18 to 25 minutes for a video/audio DVD. I plugged this thing in and like electronic magic 5 (2 hour) DVD's were popping out every 10 minutes or less. The quality amazing both video and audio. I popped in a cd that had about 70 minutes of music on it and 5 blank cd's, I got up to go into the kitchen just a few feet away to get a soda from the refrigerator, added some ice to a glass and I heard the drives ejecting, that fast, just a few minutes and they were done. I wish I purchased this years ago, DVD drives replaced in my computer replaced like crazy not to mention the wear and tear on my computer. I'm looking forward for my M media to come in to back up all the DVD's I have of my daughter growing up, high school and college graduation etc. I highly recommend this product. I am an electrical engineer and it is well built and high quality. My only complaint is that it stated free NERO software but it was not included in the box. I have not contacted the company yet about the software but will update you.. UPDATE on the Free NERO software. I contacted the company and in less than a half hour I received an e-mail back with an apology as maybe a shipping department mistake and they are mailing me out the software. I'm impressed with their product and also their customer service.

I bought this to duplicate DVDs for a business. It works great. The UI is a little confusing at first but the DVDs burned quickly. My only real complaint is that it is a bit noisy, especially on my desk next to my computer and monitor.

So far so good...got my 3 24x Duplicator and tried it out the first day. I had to make duplicates of 48 different source discs so figure no time like the present to try this out and see if it works. Now compared to burning a DVD on my computer it is slower per DVD...it takes 6 minutes to write the same DVD on my computer as it takes 10 minutes to write a DVD on the Duplicator. The computer is at 8x speed and the DVD Duplicator is at 16x speed...however, I am saving time by writing 2 DVDs simultaneously. Also, let me clarify when writing a DVD on my computer the computer will verify the DVD, when using the Duplicator I have the option of Copy and Verify or Copy and Compare which checks and matches each bit (option not available on my computer) so that in itself takes longer to do. Now, with all that being said the first 2 DVDs I duplicated on the Duplicator failed to be recognized by any computer and I tried four different computers. So, even though the manual said the default burning speed of the duplicator is 16x which would be the same write max. speed of the DVD blank media, I decided to go through the menu and check for myself and sure enough it was set at 24x. So, I changed it to 16x and made 50 DVDs that all were recognized by the computers, copied and functioned properly. During the process I had three that failed, but those were easily recognized during duplication. For instance, you put your master DVD in and then in the first slot you put in your blank DVD media...and it will register on the screen as 1, then repeat and it will register as 2, then... twice the screen showed 1 and the second slot just kept blinking green...I ejected the blank DVD and replaced it with another blank DVD and the screen registered 2 which meant I was set to make two duplicates. I pressed the ENT button and the duplicator started making the DVDs. One other time (it was after the Duplicator was done duplicating) that only one tray opened and the screen said PASS: 1 FAIL: 0 which didn't make sense since it should have said PASS: 1 FAIL: 1, but nonetheless I just went through the process to make the second DVD that didn't eject. Overall, what I like is you won't be making any DVDs thinking they are good that are actually bad...it is pretty obvious either way...it won't take the media at loading or it won't eject it. No brainer....unlike writing a DVD on a computer it will even verify successfully but then when you try to copy data there is a fatal error after the fact...that happens from time to time but with this DVD Duplicator out of the 50 DVDS written in a single day it did not happen once. The Duplicator is easy to use. If you adjust the burning speed it actually keeps it and doesn't default back to 24x when you shut if off. The only negative for me is that the DVD trays themselves don't seem to be that sturdy, more so on the fragile side so just be careful when putting in DVDs and taking them out of the trays. Love that it is a stand alone machine as well. It is quiet , it just has a slight humming when duplicating otherwise you don't even know it is on...it didn't generate excessive heat...it did not malfunction not even once while in use for the whole entire day. It has great options to write DVDs. It is very reliable as these DVDs are backup files and so each DVD is checked after duplication and can have 15,000+ files etc. written on it... and no errors at all occurred in the 50 DVDs duplicated...that is a better record than burning the DVDs all from the computer which I have done before, so I am talking from experience.

This duplicator is absolutely WONDERFUL!!! No mater what media I use...never had a bad disc yet!!! I prefer using Verbatium most of all; but, I had great luck with Phillips, HP Lightscribe, Maxell, and Memorex. This is very easy to use. Just follow the brief booklet you get upon purchase, if you have any questions. Just have it turned on...the technology in this duplicator is great!!!! It almost thinks for you. The window that gives you counter information, will tell you if your discs passed or failed...it is a wonderful product...I'm glad I made this purchase. **You will receive a paper with information on it. Keep this in a safe place. There is a reference booklet you can use if you think you'll need some advice or help...this is good to know so keep it safe. Enjoy. There are many possibilities for creating your family Cd's and Dvd's all sorts of things are available to you....save those precious pictures to a disc, save your files...the possibilites are almost endless. Just love it and enjoy it!!! If you belong to a committee or Church organization that usually needs fliers...this will come in handy instead of making paper copies of the info, get it on a disc and give it to those in your club or group. I save my best recipies that are from long ago; NOW, on the discs I made, and separate by catagory like meats, fish, pasta etc.