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Primera Bravo DVD Publisher

Everyone loves DVD. But burning and printing multiple discs for clients can be a long, boring process. Primera offers an automated solution with its Bravo DVD Publisher combined burner/printer

What do you do when a client wants 25 copies of a DVD project by tomorrow morning? In most cases, the answer is to drink a lot of coffee while waiting around at the computer, burning discs one at a time. And, if you've promised to provide printed face labels, that's even less sleep you'll be getting. At times like this, you really are an automaton - so why not get an automaton to do the job for you? That's the logic behind Primera's Bravo DVD Publisher, and we have to admit, it's sound - promising unattended disc burning in much the same way that many of us enjoy batch capture at the beginning of a project.

The device is a large, impressive-looking machine, fronted with a dark translucent visor which lifts up to reveal two columns for discs (in and out trays, so to speak). Between these is an EIDE DVD burner and a colour inkjet printer. There's also a robotic arm to do the manual work of moving discs from one place to another. As standard, the machine supports a maximum of 25 discs - and when you consider that 25 well-packed DVDs could take over ten hours to burn, we think that's enough for most people's needs, and ideal for being left running overnight. But, if 25 discs are not enough, an optional Kiosk Mode Kit can be used - allowing blank discs to fill both columns, with finished discs sliding out the front into an output bin supplied as part of the kit, along with a metal tray, Mac and Windows software and instructions (the kit was not included with the review model).

Conclusion
The benefit of Bravo DVD Publisher in creating well-presented short runs of CD and DVD projects will be obvious to many readers, but also extends further - here at Computer Video Towers, for instance, we see a lot of electronic press packs burned to CD-R, as well as small-run software discs and driver utilities that have been created on recordable media. The machine itself is big on 'wow' factor - it's the kind of device that will be put prominently on display in editing suites to impress clients. What's more, it works extremely well. Software choice is a little limited if you want to burn and print in a single session, but this is still a very versatile machine. Documentation is good and installation procedures are utterly painless, while the compatibility with Mac and Windows systems (with the right software bundles) is a definite bonus. Our only gripe is that the price tag puts Bravo well out of reach of most home editors. But, unlike many of the more high-end products we see at Computer Video Towers, this is a genuine productivity device, intended for users for whom time is money. And if that's the case, the DVD Publisher could be worth every penny.

Peter Wells

Read the full review in February 2004's Computer Video magazine.

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Primera Bravo DVD Publisher
Siren DVD Duplication Station
Sony DSR-PDX10P
Avid Xpress Pro
Canopus Edius 1.5

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Budget Canopus ProCoder
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