Using both DVDShrink & DVDRebuilder...

[mjvgiese]

Has anyone ever run their DVD through both DVDShrink and DVDRebuilder? I have a DVD-9 I want to put onto a DVD-5, and I want to use Rebuilder, but I'd kind of like to compress the menus a little more. So I was thinking of ripping my DVD, then running it through Shrink and compressing the menus, but put no compression on the video. Then I would run it through Rebuilder to compress/encode the video.

Does this sound like a good idea, and has anyone else ever done this?
Just kind of curious, I think I'm going to try it sometime this week.

Thanks...

[jtommyj]

I do it all the time with Nero Recode if the menus are large enough to warrant it.

Tom

[jyn999]

Has anyone ever run their DVD through both DVDShrink and DVDRebuilder? I have a DVD-9 I want to put onto a DVD-5, and I want to use Rebuilder, but I'd kind of like to compress the menus a little more. So I was thinking of ripping my DVD, then running it through Shrink and compressing the menus, but put no compression on the video. Then I would run it through Rebuilder to compress/encode the video.

Does this sound like a good idea, and has anyone else ever done this?
Just kind of curious, I think I'm going to try it sometime this week.

Thanks...

You can select Mode, Steal Space From Extra in DVD-RB to do pretty much the same thing.

[Gurm]

And be careful, one of the known issues with DVD-RB is that it is sometimes "less than tolerant" of modified DVD structures (like the ones that Shrink puts out).

[guns1inger]

As of 0.64a, Steal Space from Extras did not compress menus, although this is one the way.

Use Shrink. Set the movie to no compression, and squeeze the menus as much as you think you can. Write the results out to the HDD and load it into DVD RB. I often reauthor in Shrink before compressing in RB, and have never had RB complain about Shrink's output.

[mjvgiese]

As of 0.64a, Steal Space from Extras did not compress menus, although this is one the way.

It sure would be nice if Rebuilder would compress the menus! Normally I wouldn't mess with such a trivial amount of space, but I want to squeeze in as much quality for the video, if that makes any sense...

So, am I right in thinking that Rebuilder doesn't do anything to the menus, it doesn't compress or encode them at all? So if I compress them with Shrink, Rebuilder won't try to make them any smaller, right?

Oh, by the way, I do have Rebuilder set to steal space from extras, but this DVD doesn't have any extras at all, just the menus and the movie. (Well, actually it's an episodic tv dvd, it has 4 episodes on it.)

[jyn999]

It sure would be nice if Rebuilder would compress the menus! Normally I wouldn't mess with such a trivial amount of space, but I want to squeeze in as much quality for the video, if that makes any sense...

So, am I right in thinking that Rebuilder doesn't do anything to the menus, it doesn't compress or encode them at all? So if I compress them with Shrink, Rebuilder won't try to make them any smaller, right?

Oh, by the way, I do have Rebuilder set to steal space from extras, but this DVD doesn't have any extras at all, just the menus and the movie. (Well, actually it's an episodic tv dvd, it has 4 episodes on it.)

It's my understanding that DVD RB re-encodes everything on the DVD ... main title, extras, menus, etc. It may give a higher priority to the movie but only the developer can confirm that.

I would think the studios would try to deliver the best quality video for the movie by adjusting the quality for menus, extras, and trailers. The menus, extras, and trailers may already be so highly compressed that you won't see any gains by compressing them further.

[guns1inger]

Actually, most studio disks have shed loads of room left on them. Even disks that are well endowed often only take up 6.5-7.5 GB. Many special editions have menus that can take up almost 200MB or more (motion menus eat space like crazy).

You are correct about DVD RB reducing menus, however if I am using DVD RB to try to keep quality high, the first thing I would jettison is the menu.

[jyn999]

Actually, most studio disks have shed loads of room left on them. Even disks that are well endowed often only take up 6.5-7.5 GB. Many special editions have menus that can take up almost 200MB or more (motion menus eat space like crazy).

You are correct about DVD RB reducing menus, however if I am using DVD RB to try to keep quality high, the first thing I would jettison is the menu.

I agree with your method of using DVD Shrink to shrink or strip out whatever isn't wanted before running DVD RB. You may even want to convert the unwanted fluff to still photos to squeeze out that final 10MB.

[winifreid]

Just curious; why you go to all the extra effort? Is Rebuilder really that much better? Is it better even if you use rejig or quenc to encode? Is the difference so great as to offset the cost of CCE ($60)? Finally, is it better just at high compression (>70%)? And, please, don't say it is a matter of taste. I am asking for your opinion, not some scientific quantification. I just have a 21 inch TV and only notice a problem with high compression when I zoom or pause. Thanks

[guns1inger]

For me, any movie over about 100 minutes that I will watch frequently, or any movie that requires more than 15 - 20% compression (80 - 85% in Shrink speak) goes through DVD RB. CCE isn't wasted, because I also use it for encoding personal video s etc. Quality and speed wise, CCE is better than the other two options (Rejig is just a transcoder, anyway)

To Jyn999 - Usually if I am using DVD RB, I will have reathored to movie only in Shrink. If I do choose to keep menus etc, and want kill off some smaller itmes, or split a disk into movie on one and extras on the other, I have some standard graphics that I use. A black screen compresses much better than still pictures.

[jyn999]

Just curious; why you go to all the extra effort? Is Rebuilder really that much better? Is it better even if you use rejig or quenc to encode? Is the difference so great as to offset the cost of CCE ($60)? Finally, is it better just at high compression (>70%)? And, please, don't say it is a matter of taste. I am asking for your opinion, not some scientific quantification. I just have a 21 inch TV and only notice a problem with high compression when I zoom or pause. Thanks

DVD RB analyses the DVD content and re-encodes it to fit on a DVD-5. You configure DVD RB to use CCE, Rejig or QUEnc as the encoding engine. Each encoder has its advocates. I use CCE SP 2.50 (a version over 2 years old) and have been extremely satisfied with the results.

Look to the left for Tools, Convert, DVD Rebuilder. Check out the comments of other members.

[jyn999]

To Jyn999 - Usually if I am using DVD RB, I will have reathored to movie only in Shrink. If I do choose to keep menus etc, and want kill off some smaller itmes, or split a disk into movie on one and extras on the other, I have some standard graphics that I use. A black screen compresses much better than still pictures.

Sweet 8)

[pg55555]

mjvgiese

Oh, by the way, I do have Rebuilder set to steal space from extras, but this DVD doesn't have any extras at all, just the menus and the movie. (Well, actually it's an episodic tv dvd, it has 4 episodes on it.)

NEVER use "Half D1 for Extras" and "Steal Space from Extra" when processing episodic DVDs.

Rebuilder assumes the largest VTS is the main movie and that all the other VTS are extras. So, if as usual in episodic discs, each episode has its own VTS, when you select "Half D1..." or "Steal Space...", you will be reducing the quality of all episodes but the largest.

If you have extras in your episodic discs you can try RBOpt to tweak the bitrate a resizing for each VTS manually.

If all the episodes are in just ONE VTS my comment does not apply

[kush]

Case in point - The Simpsons/Family Guy; at least for the NTSC/R1 versions are all in the same VTS. Although crappily done ones, ie: Married w/ Children S1 episodes are each in their own title sets, so the *don't* steal space/Half D1 would apply there.

And DVDRB doesn't do anything with menus yet, but is "in the works" as pointed out by others. Also, now that there is the 'special processing mode' or whatever for the rebuild phase, I haven't had a problem yet with using Shrink to pre-process menu heavy titles (ie: later Simpsons stuff, Monty Python). Finally gone w/ the 003/004 errors, although 2 or so of them I think were plain bad IFOs, as I would get those errors on totally untouched stuff.

Also, RB-Opt has been handy for me too, as in the case of the Simpsons stuff, I'm able to, for example, dump down the bitrate on the end credit cells, and allocate that to the useful parts (ie: the main cells). Another good use - the extras heavy MPFC discs, where many of the clips are repeated on many of the discs, and are all taken straight from the various episodes.

[jyn999]

@kush,

I got the infamous 0003 error when rebuilding hit the 98.9% point for SW6 aka Return of the Jedi. I selected special processing, restarted and completed the rebuild phase of my backup.

[mjvgiese]

mjvgiese

Oh, by the way, I do have Rebuilder set to steal space from extras, but this DVD doesn't have any extras at all, just the menus and the movie. (Well, actually it's an episodic tv dvd, it has 4 episodes on it.)

NEVER use "Half D1 for Extras" and "Steal Space from Extra" when processing episodic DVDs.

Rebuilder assumes the largest VTS is the main movie and that all the other VTS are extras. So, if as usual in episodic discs, each episode has its own VTS, when you select "Half D1..." or "Steal Space...", you will be reducing the quality of all episodes but the largest.

Oh my, I guess I need to pay closer attention to what I'm doing! There are multiple VTS files on the DVD, but when I load it into Rebuilder, in the "Video Title Sets" box, it only says "VTS_01" and it doesn't list any other VTS. So that means it only has one, right? This is my first episodic set to try (it's Magnum P.I.), so I'm still working out the kinks in my method.

[pg55555]

mjvgiese

I've never actually backup an episodic disc, so take my advice with a piece of salt

RB does not process VTS that are smaller than 50MB. Probably thats the reason they do not appear in the window.

I imagine that when you say "There are multiple VTS files on the DVD" you mean multiple VideoTitleSets, each of which is comprissed by 3 or more files (the .IFO, the .BUP and one or more .VOBs)