MicroTech's ImageMaker MJ CD production system

Emedia Professional, May, 1998 by Hugh Bennett

It's not every day that a highway behemoth pulls up to my door to unload a single CD production system; but this is no ordinary equipment. Shipping in eight imposing boxes is MicroTech Conversion Systems' flagship ImageMaker MJ and ImageAutomator duo, with integrated CD-R premastering, recording, and printing functions in a highly flexible, albeit large, customizable architecture. Serious equipment for serious applications, the ImageMaker MJ and ImageAutomator are at the top of their class for lights-out CD duplication, enterprise, and on-demand custom publishing applications.

IMAGEAUTOMATOR: A JACK OF ALL TRADES

At the heart of the system is MicroTech's modular ImageAutomator robotic disc-handling system, which permits the unit to be custom outfitted with the equipment most appropriate to the application, be it large-scale disc duplication or multiple unique disc recording. The ImageAutomator consists of a hexagonal tower with production module arms connected to each side to form a star shape. A rotary pick-and-place robot in the center of the tower moves discs from module to module.

The ImageMaker's flexible design allows it to be configured with different combinations of production equipment, including recorder, reader, printer, verifier, and stacking modules. Typical configurations outfit the system with stacking, recording, and printing capabilities.

Stack modules consist of three 200-disc removable spindles, one each for blank disc input, recorded disc output, and bad disc rejection, and served by an elevator for vertically lifting the stack of blank discs to the picking height of the robotic arm.

Users may choose between two options for printer modules, which configure the ImageAutomator with Rimage's thermal transfer monochrome Perfect Image CD Printer or, alternatively, Fargo's Signature color inkjet printer. [See Hugh Bennett, "CD-R, Fit to Print: Printing Devices for CD-Recordable, August 1997--Ed.] Since print speed Is often a bottleneck in the production process, MicroTech includes a Queue station buffer, which is essentially a cup that holds discs while they await labeling.

Because of its accommodating physical design, the ImageAutomator offers a great deal of flexibility in the type of recorders that can be deployed. For example, one loading system permits use of caddy recorders such as the 4X write/4X read Yamaha CDR100. Most applications use MicroTech's six-pack drive module, which allows a cluster of up to six 5.25" half-height tray-loading recorders to fit in the space normally occupied by two single-drive caddy modules. Microtech currently supports several CD recorders, including Yamaha's 4X write/6X read CDR400 and. Matsushita's 4X write/8X read (Panasonic) CW7502. [See Hugh Bennett, "Yamaha's CDR400 CD Recorder," July 1997--Ed.] A fully configured ImageAutomator can accommodate two six-pack drive modules for a maximum of twelve recorders as well as one printing module, one Queue station module, and one stacking module.

It bears noting, however, that one of the factors holding back professional production systems like MicroTech's offering and Rimage's Perfect Image Producer is the lack of truly professional CD recorders available in today's market. Currently, only Kodak's 6X/6X PCD Writer 600 is specifically designed for sustaining high written disc quality during constant use, but it may be considered too expensive for most applications. Thus, MicroTech and others are at the mercy of equipment manufacturers that have yet to understand the production market's need for robust recorders with features like high-bandwidth Running OPC that can reliably read and write all disc formats. Similarly, as the use of such product systems increases for individual disc creation, so does the need for higher-speed 6X or 8X recorders. As a result, high-and production systems need more attention than they might otherwise get and their full potential remains as yet unrealized.

IMAGEMAKER MJ: THE HOST AND THE MACHINE

Controlling the action of the ImageAutomator is MicroTech's Windows NT-based ImageMaker MJ (multiple-job) production system. The ImageMaker ensemble includes a Pentium 166Mhz PC host system with 64MB RAM, 17" monitor, 9GB AV hard drive, 100 Base-T ethernet card, and a Plextor 12Plex CD-ROM drive housed in a full-sized tower running MicroTech's proprietary ImageMaker MJ and supporting cast of software.

Although not as aesthetically pleasing or straightforward as most consumer recording software, the ImageMaker MJ package is reasonably intuitive and users can expect to get up to speed fairly quickly once setup is completed. Since multiple tasks can be performed simultaneously by the system, the software is arranged into discrete job cards (up to a maximum of 20), which are accessible through tabs at the top of the main window. Separate job cards are filled out by the operator for each collection of tasks to be performed and to define critical items, such as which source material is to be written, how many discs are to be made, which devices are to be used, and what labels are to be printed, including any data to be included from a database or other merge file.