1 type of optical disc is the Compact Disc (CD) which come in various
formats. The most commonly used are the Audio CDs, which can hold up to
80 mins of audio that will play in most hi-fi CD players. 78 minutes is
the maximum playing time, 4 seconds is the minimum track duration and
99 tracks is the maximum number of tracks which can be held on a CD.
These also have the capacity to hold, 400 hi-res pictures, 140
short/average length songs and computer data of up to 750MB. On top of
this, CD duplication, CD copying and CD printing can all be implemented using compact discs to backup, duplicate and customize information stored on a CD.
Video CD (VCD) and Super Video CD (SVCD) are another 2 formats of
CD’s. VCD hold video and audio content (like a small film but the
quality is low) and SVCD is a much a higher quality version.
The CD’s used for production are white-faced printable discs. These can be used for inkjet, screen and litho CD printing.
These usually measure 120 x 120mm with a centre-hole diameter of 22mm.
These have superseded the discs with a centre-hole measuring 37mm.
There is a “little brother” to this type of disc which is exactly the
same but smaller. These measure 80mm across, with a centre-hole
diameter of 15mm. The other format is silver discs. Although some
printers can print colour onto silver discs, the most common process
for printing onto silver discs is Thermal.
Keith McGregor is a partner of Strawberrysoup, a web design agency with offices in Chichester and Bournemouth. Strawberrysoup specialise in creative web design, content managed websites, search engine optimisation, search engine marketing and graphic design
