How much compression is too much (dvdshrink)

[scott015]

i just started using the newest version of dvdshrink where it does the "automatic" compression for you. Seems to work very well... Iv only done 2-3 movies so far, but even after I reauthor and totally delete all menus, extras and subtitles and extra languages.... it seems to still need to be compressed. The first 2 movies I did were compressed at about 85% so that should be pretty good quality... but right now I just did Scarface and Godfather I and Scarface was 67% and Godfather was 60%

so how will the quality be on those? what is the most you can compress onto one disk and the quality still be good? i dont really want to notice a difference and think it looks bad

[scott015]

also, one more question

i downloaded the new shrink and its free, but they made me download a trial version of nero. so after shrink is done shrinking it automatically burns the movie onto a disc for ya.... does this have to do with the nero trial version? i mean will that demo version run out of time and then shrink no longer burn for me???

also, when shrink is burning for me it was burning at 2x on my 2x discs... im gonna go today and buy some higher speed discs.... do I have to tell shrink they are 4x or whatever or will it automatically know???

[jtoolman2000]

I use shrink exclusively including the latest V. I've done movie only backups with no compression ( 100% ) as well as whole disk backups at 50% and at least on my 27" Panasonic regular TV, they look and sound the same. Now mind youo, I am not one of those Pixel Counters that analize rather than enjoy the movie they are watching, but that's just me.

To answer your second ?,, Yes, the burning function of DVD Shrink is directly tied to Nero. You will need a serial # for it or it will cease to work when the tine limit runs out.

If you put 4x media and you burner is compatible with it, ie, it can burn at that speed, can burn at that speed with that particular media, it will automatically set itself to 4x through shrink.

[The-Witchking]

Hi Scott.

I'll try to answer you as best as I can. ACTUALLY, I have used DVD Shrink to back up BOTH of the movies you mentioned, the 20th Anniversary Edition of Scarface, and Godfather part 1 from the box set. NOW, here is what I can tell you.

First and foremost, start THANKING GOD that these movies are from the 70's. Why? Well, here's why. Even though they were RECENTLY 'digitally remastered', if you watch through the originals, they arent very good quality. They have dust and scratches, and cigarette burns all throughout the damn thing. Basically, to be expected from a 70's movie restored, right? THAT'S GOOD.

I have the same compression rates as you, being that I used DVD Shrink 3.0 Beta 5. If you use deep analysis, while watching the backup of The Godfather, you BARELY notice any compression, because it's not an action orientated movie. The most 'action packed' sequence in the whole movie involves either men running really fast, or a pseudo car-chase. So DVD Srink was able to compress the 'slow' parts of the movie, without actually taking too much away from the movie. SO, if you compressed at lets say 60%, if you did deep analysis on a movie like THIS, it will LOOK like 80-85% on your standalone. (And I've viewed mine on a 52" flat screen HDTV). So it's not too bad.

With Scarface, same results, because it's a 70's movie. WITH deep analysis, Scarface looked like it was compressed at about 75-80% on the same setup I mentioned before.

NOW, regarding Nero. You can DISABLE the option to have DVD Shrink automatically burn it for you by going into the preferences tab, and unchecking it. When DVD Shrink tells Nero to burn the disc, it sets the burn speed to "Maximum", so if you have 2X discs, it will burn at 2X. Same with 4x discs. HOWEVER, after the trial of Nero runs out, you won't be able to burn with DVD SHrink (TO MY KNOWLEDGE, don't quote me, I have Nero 6.3 Ultra Full)

Hope that helped you. If it didn't, just repost.

W.K.

P.S. - Just a sidenote, on all other 'current' DVDS and DVD Shrink, I wouldn't recommend going below 70%. I've burned such recent movies as Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Carribbean with DVD Shrink 3.12, using deep analysis, and only 5.1 Audio, and the results were phenominal. Trust me, use deep analysis in Shrink 3.12, whatever they did to update it, it works significantly better now.

[scott015]

what do you mean by deep analayis??? i did that on scarface and it took almost an hour to do but nothing happened... so i dont know what it did... i didnt do it on godfather, should i redo it and do that again???

[The-Witchking]

Scott, I would definately re-do The Godfather. What happens is ALSO in the preferences tab, when you go to backup options, it gives you the option to run ''deep analysis'' before encoding. KEEP THAT CHECKED, it will greatly improve the quality on more compressed movies. What it does is this, it going through EVERY frame of the movie, and analyses which parts of the movie it can compress MORE than others. For example, if someone is sitting at a table, and having a discussion, it can compress the hell out of that scene without you noticing it. However, if theres an explosion, or a fast moving sequence such as a car chase, it will use LESS compression in those areas, so that the final result will look good, and not be so noticeable. Just try it, dont delete your original Godfather rip, and REDO it with deep analysis. Then, watch them both, and compare certain scenes. Ive done this a few times. Very noticeable.

[scott015]

thanks guys... this is so easy nowadays... i bought my dvdburner about a year ago and then there seemed to be soo many steps... now just one program... wow

now i just need to buy a version of nero.... what a bummer

[Poppa_Meth]

Deep analysis is a multi-pass analysis. it examines the movie structure in depth and decides where to apply the most compression and where to use the most bitrate for best results. just keep in mind that if doing it straight from the DVD-ROM that it forces the drive to work harder than a normal rip and can wear it out quicker. a lot of people rip to HDD first with DVD Decryptor then run it through DVD Shrink to avoid this.

[mgh]

Final bitrate of approx 2500 to 3000 kbps for the video-not much action-lower kbps- fast action higher kbps. You can rip a single chapter of the original-check video kbps (virtualdub mod will do it)- calculate compression to above levels-it will be perfectly OK

[offline]

Are you guys aware you can select indvidual scenes or chapters to increase or reduce compression? Looking at Scarface, for example, there are a couple of scenes that need extra bitrate than the rest. You can do this in re-author mode, selecting Start and End Frames, and then choosing what level, if any, to compress that selection.

This "hidden" feature is discussed in the forum at http://www.dvdshrink.org and there is a step by step guide somewhere there as well!

[The-Witchking]

offline, I'm aware of that and have used it in the past, however, the original poster of this topic seemed to want simple information, and ease of use, so that's what I tried to stick with.

[Wicked-n-Twisted]

If you haven`t already cut off the credits then I`d recommend doing so.Just go to Start/End frame and just click the frames backwards until you`ve reached the end of the movie itself.It really helps to get a better compression rate.

[offline]

Fair enough Witchking,
your reply was so well considered I wondered if you had left it out for reasons of simplicity.

[The-Witchking]

Yeah, Ive manipulated DVD Shrink in tons of different ways. *lol* Great little program, saves lots of time, especially if you go the route of re-authoring the DVD using CCE or TMPGEnc. Just saves tons of time, and frustration. (Is there anything more frustrating that using an MPEG Encoder, reencoding the movie with multipass, wasting 4 hours, and then having the damn thing freeze at 90%? I dont think so.)