If you have a project in mind and would like a free estimate, or if you just want to communicate with us to learn more about your options, go ahead fill out our simple CD/DVD Quote Form now, and we will get back to you with the specific information you need immediately. Of course, you can always contact us directly by clicking the "Contact" button above.

Before filling out the form, however, you may want to read on for some important background information and facts that you should know about the technology and your options.  These are the basics - we'll handle the details for you.

If in doubt ask to see examples of completed projects, talk to others, and compare.

What is authoring?

What do I need to do?

Duplication services & package prices .

Security features.

CD-ROM basics.

CD-ROM features.

DVD basics & authoring.

What does "Authoring" mean? There are a few basic steps to creating an interactive CD or DVD and make it ready for duplication and distribution to your audience. "Authoring" simply means programming the disk to display your information (video, text, graphics, sound, etc.) in just the way you want. This can be as simple as making the CD "auto-run" on a computer and display a video or print file immediately, or as elaborate as a complex, interactive experience that displays multiple information formats.

What so you need from me to create a CD or DVD? We understand that business people these days are very busy, with tight timelines for their projects. Paradigm Media has over twenty years of experience creating multimedia solutions for business, and knows how to minimize the amount of time you need to spend to get the project out the door. We know the right questions to ask you to go ahead and design a program that will suit your needs. Let us do the hard work, so that you can spend your valuable time on other projects.

When the time comes, we'll give you with a simple checklist of what we need from you, and then we'll supply you with review and approval copies of work in progress while we take care of the rest.

Can Paradigm Media duplicate my disks, ready for me to send out? Yes! We can bundle the entire project into a single, low cost package. This way, you don't have to spend time and effort managing multiple vendors to handle the authoring, label design and printing, and then duplication. Of course, we will also be glad to take over any of these functions individually if that's what suites your needs.

Naturally, just about everything is cheaper by the dozen, so the more duplicates you order at once, the lower the unit cost. You may be surprised at how inexpensive a moderate quantity of disks can be.

Security. Quite often these days, security of your files and information is important. If you really want to make sure that your files are only useable through the CD interface, we can do that for you. This means that your materials can't be copied off of the CD and distributed - they can only be viewed and used just the way you intend through the CD user interface. If you need a further level of security, we can program the disk to be registered to a set number of computers, so that it can't be copied and distributed out of your control.

Once you have seen and approved a master, we can then proceed to copying and packaging your product for distribution to your audience.

CD-ROM - more about distributing information on CD.

• Most CD's include an "interactive interface", much like the web, that provides logical access to the video(s) and other materials. An almost unlimited amount of collateral information can be included on a CD, include video, text, images, custom programmed utilities, and preexisting elements such as web files (html), Adobe Acrobat, Macromedia Flash, or any other media format that you may need to package within your presentation.

• Any existing video can be rendered to an interactive CD-ROM, as well as mastered from scratch as a brand new project. Since we are a video production house, Paradigm Media can start with producing your video, then move on to the production of an interactive project based on the video.

• If you already have a video and want to add a great deal of value to your investment and extend it's useful life, Paradigm Media will compress your existing video to the appropriate files, link it together with an attractive interactive interface, and add in any number of other pictures and text elements that you may already have already have such as photographs, brochures and diagrams.  This can include even a searcheable database of information that you want your customers to use to find information they need.

  CD Advantages. What are the advantages of delivering content on a CD-ROM instead of the web? Here are some things to consider.

  • Speed and quality. Probably the major advantage of a CD-ROM is it's speed vs. the web, particularly for most users who are still on a dial-up (low speed) connection. This directly translates higher quality images, and a much better overall experience for the viewer. You can be much more versatile with the content, since the loading speed is much less of a consideration on CD than the web, and some media-rich applications still can not be properly handled even with a broadband connection. In particular, video assets are difficult to deliver over the Internet, while a CD will reliably show good quality video.
  • Portability. You do not nee a web connection to use a CD. Just imagine having to depend on having a reliable web connection for a major presentation to an audience. Also, people who use your CD (including employees), can utilize the resources on the CD at any time, not just when they are connected. A CD is "always on".
  • Compatibility, reliability, and ease of use. Everything on a CD is "self-contained", so there will be no frustrating obstacles to viewing your materials. For example, you will probably need to download one or more "players" before being able to view various types of print or video content from the Internet. Everything needed to use the CD is already available on the CD, so the user has nothing in the way of getting to your information. In addition, browser compatibility can be an issue with the Internet, whereas the program on the CD will work on any computer.
  • User satisfaction. A CD is something that people can posses and keep for themselves. It has a satisfying physical presence that merely passing on a URL to a website does not supply. In addition, most CD's have attractive labels, and packages can be created that include print and other materials that people can share.
  • Security. If you are at all concerned about who is going to be able to access your content, putting it on the world wide web has to make you nervous. A CD is a physical item, so you have some control over who receives it. Also, CD's can be password protected, if need be, to control access to the content. In addition, your files can be encrypted so that they can't be used or distributed from the CD, and/or we can register each disk to only specific computers so that it can't be duplicated and distributed to anyone you don't want to have it.
  • Bonus features. Choosing a CD vs. a web site isn't an "all or nothing" proposition. Hybrid CDs can connect to content on the web, and receive it, too, if the user is on-line. For example, e-mail can be sent from within the CD program, and certain types of content can be downloaded from web on demand from within the CD.

DVD-ROM - more about what a DVD disk will do for you. 

• DVD players and DVD equipped computers enable large amounts of very high quality video to be contained on a single disk, along with seemingly limitless supporting interactive elements.  Consumer style "Set Top" players are now very widespread, and inexpensive to buy, and many new computers in stores today come equipped with DVD drives.

• Whether you want to distribute your video assets to a wide audience, or use DVD for internal company use or an information or trade show kiosk, DVD could be the perfect solution.

For more information about how a DVD is made, go to our DVD Authoring selection.

No matter what your application, it is important to understand that you should start with the highest quality source material and digitizing services as possible.  Our Media-100 digital editing suite, with it's recognized top quality digitizing capability allows us to start with clean sharp digital files which compress to small, high quality source files for your interactive project.  This means a wider audience, since the movies will play on more machines, and more material will fit on your CD.

  PowerPoint will now support movie files as well as pictures.  Ask us how we can help you turn your PowerPoint presentation into a real moving experience.

You're only a click or a phone call away to letting us help you. Go ahead and fill out our simple response form to get a quick quote on your project.