DVD Shrink (v1.02)

[jester1x]

I was perusing some other dvd websites and came across this program called "DVD Shrink." I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. It's appears to be a cross of Instant Copy and DVD2ONE. (I own both programs and use each of them on a fairly equal basis.) The program's interface is quite pleasant to look at it also appears to give users a great deal of options. You can re-author or transcode/reencode depending on the size of your files. I figured I would spread word on this program, plus help the author further develop it. He goes by the name of "dvdshrink." The program is freeware!

I hope this doesn't violate the terms of service, but this program can be found at a site called "dvdrdigest." I'll try the program out tonight and, maybe report back my results!

[BJ_M]

http://www.dvdr-digest.com/software/software.php?file=dvdshrink

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19027


is the official web site/page/forum/link whatever ..

[Baldrick]

Nice with a free dvd9 to dvd5 tool. Anyone tried it yet? Is it worth testing?

[jester1x]

I tested it on "Joe Dirt" tonight. The total file(s) size of the dvd is a little over 7 gigs. The quality was acceptable, but there was some noticeable blockiness (moreso than is noticeable on DVD2ONE). I think dvds around 7 gigs and under (completely backing them up) may be the limit with this program without some more tweaking. I stripped a few streams and reduced file sizes by a factor of 4 (43% or so) with this program in order to fit the whole movie with extras and all on a standard 4.7 gig disc.

The program is as fast or maybe even a little faster than DVD2ONE. I have to give props to the author though. For a free program, it is truly outstanding! If you only do movie only back-ups, then this program is quite comparable if not equal to DVD2ONE.

I would rate the programs I have in the following order:

1. Instant Copy (takes longer, but the quality is there)
2. DVD2ONE (great to outstanding quality and speed)
3. DVD Shrink (an outstanding alternative and free!!!)

I think DVD Shrink may be the up and coming leader in dvd backup programs in the near future. I give my regards to the author and thank him for bestowing such a program on all us lucky folks!

[Baldrick]

It was definitely worth testing.

+
It was very faast. It took only about 20 minutes to transcode a 7 GB DVD (100minutes movie with some extra materials) to 4 GB.
Lots of settings,
Reauthor - only choose the main movie and also cut the movie a bit if you like.
Reencode - choose the entire movie and choose how much compression for each video, deselect audio tracks or subtitles tracks.
FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!


-
Not that good video quality. I have only tested with one dvd though, the main movie was around 6 GB.
You can't select exact output size.
No burning.

[generalajay]

yes it seems well worth testing from what time l've had to play with it after a quick download but have burnt a copy yet, the compression rate can be change so I'll have to test different rates to see what results it gives

[Baldrick]

continue here
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=152198

[Timoleon]

It was definitely worth testing.

+
It was very faast. It took only about 20 minutes to transcode a 7 GB DVD (100minutes movie with some extra materials) to 4 GB.
Lots of settings,
Reauthor - only choose the main movie and also cut the movie a bit if you like.
Reencode - choose the entire movie and choose how much compression for each video, deselect audio tracks or subtitles tracks.
FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!


-
Not that good video quality. I have only tested with one dvd though, the main movie was around 6 GB.
You can't select exact output size.
No burning.

I've done both "The Time Machine" (96mins) and "Total Recall" (113mins) in the last twelve hours and I'm very pleased with the results. All the extra streams & menus included at a higher compression ratio, but still very acceptable to look at. The ability to play with the compression ratios on all the different video and audio streams before reencoding is a great plus

There is even a button to create an iso --- not functioning yet, but I bet dvdshrink is working feverishly on it at this very moment...

Very impressive indeed for a piece of freeware...I'm off to play with it some more right now

[andydd]

Im downloading it now to try it....... It says on the website that it decrpts the DVD too so that could be handy

[kwag]

I've done a small quality evaluation of DVD2ONE againts DVD Shrink in this thread: http://www.kvcd.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3535
The winner is ...., you decide

-kwag

[adam]

Well I don't think you can really do a frame to frame comparison because DVD Shrink compresses by picture type. I think levels 1 and 2 only compress B pictures, level 3 compresses only P pictures, and level 4 compresses I pictures.

So in your comparison, if you used level 3 and you just happened to select a B or I frame, then it would be identical to the source DVD. I think there's no way to compare them except to look at video clips, or at least look at multiple frames. From my personal tests levels 1 and 2 in DVD Shrink are really very impressive.

I tried Signs on level 3 and personally, I found it unwatchable in certain scenes. I haven't bothered to test level 4 because of this.

In my opinion, this program is the best of the bunch as long as you can use level 1 or 2, and level 3 may be acceptable for some sources. For a first release, and a free one at that, this is the program to watch.

[kwag]

Well I don't think you can really do a frame to frame comparison because DVD Shrink compresses by picture type.

That depends what you use for preview/analisys.
The comparison was done with Vdub, syncing the encoded DVD2ONE VOB and the DVD Shrink VOB. You can see the difference on every frame (vertically stacked frames), where DVD2ONE frames have "slightly" more visible blocks than DVD Shrink. But in reality, looking at both encoded movies on a HDTV, they look almost identical. As far as speed, DVD Shrink took ~20 minutes to compress that movie, and DVD2ONE took ~25 minutes. So I think DVD Shrink is the leader ( for the time being 8) )

-kwag

[mysterio1]

I tried using it with the movie spiderman the menu's didnt work and the movie was unplayable on the X-box, Im not giving up yet will try another movie. It looks like a very promising app much more options then DVD2one and faster, Forget about IC its to slow.

[adam]

Well sure, if you look at multiple frames then you are bound to find ones that were compressed by both programs. You just can't select a single random frame from each and compare, because one may or may not even have been compressed.

Personally, I think that if you took one GOP's worth of frames from each encode and compared each frame side by side, some of DVD2One's frames would look better and some of DVD Shrink's would look better. Overall I think DVD Shrink provides better quality, but again, I would only say this confidently on levels 1 or 2. I don't think further compressing P or I frames is a good idea. I'd rather run the program twice and compress the B pictures further, which is what I am experimenting with right now. Hell its not like it takes that long.

I'm waiting for this program to allow custom compression ratio's rather than levels...its too limited as is. I would also love to have the ability to resize to 352x480 on extra's, but I realize that this is not easily done in a transcoder. Until a program can do this, I'm sticking to manual authoring with CCE + Scenarist.

[Homemaint]

Just to add my 2 cents worth on DVD Shrink. I just did Ghost Ship and Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets (HPCF)and they came out Excellant using Memorex DVD-R media as they did miserable with the Princo's. Each took about 52 min to transcode and then another 50 min to burn W/Nero 5.5.10.20. The Video was great and the menues worked as the original. I did have a problem with backing up the 2nd HPCF Special Features disk but I believe it is due to the medium I used (Princo) as I've had problems with them in the past. I'm a relitive newbie (less than a year) but have found this to be the easy'est program yet..