DVDshrink compression tips.

[Kubrick]

The following are some lessons I've learnt so far with DVDshrink (60+ DVD-r's made so far!)

1) If the movie is a dual-layer DVD, and compressing the movie itself down to a single DVD-R, do your best to try and keep the compression as low as possible.

Delete the alternate languages, however I found that keeping the director's commentaries was one of my *must haves*.

It's messed up, but for some DVD's, re-authoring will sometimes screw with the audio. Example: MISSION TO MARS. I originally did just a basic 'movie only' with the sound and commentary. Since I didn't include the menu screens, the movie started with only the commentary! I was unable to switch over to the movie audio! (In essence, this DVD became a coaster)

Hence, it's generally best to try and include the menu screens. What I did in essence, was compress the documentary, low-compress (level 2) the movie and STILL FRAME the rest so that all the extra unimportant elements didn't take up much room.

Aspect ratios do play heavily however. I found that movies with 2.35:1 aspect ratios fared better under heavier compression (level 2/3), whereas 1.85:1 aspect ratio movies looked blocky even using just level 2 compression.

In essence, with 1.85:1 movies, it sort of takes up twice the amount of information space than a 2.35:1 movie...so that only makes sense that compression levels are to be lower.

2) If the original DVD is just a basic DVD with only a small making of featurette...oftentimes that featurette isn't worth keeping. However, if the DVD comes with at least another 90min of supplementaries...I'd suggest re-authoring it and burning it onto a seperate DVD-R.

By placing your original DVD onto two seperate DVD-R's (one disc is the movie, the other are the sups), at best, if the original movie is longer than 2hours...you'll only maybe have to give it level 1 compression.

3) What would make for a neat function (if it would be possible with DVDshrink), is a way to encode multiple DVD's onto one disc. Since I don't really care too much about picture quality when it comes to basic featurette's 'making ofs' you pretty much could cram several DVD's worth of supplementaries onto one single DVD-R. Just a thought.

Regardless, this app is fantastic, I just found that trial and error when it comes to compression is pretty much a lesson I've learnt. By all means, the lowest amount is the best, the higher it goes, the more blockier it becomes.

- Kubrick

[vric]

I will just add, if you have 1:33 DVD (Full screen) even at Level1 compression, you will see a lost in quality if some action or light are in the movie