Hello, I made my first backup today, while it wasn't really a coaster, it still was not what I wanted. I used DVD Shrink and Nero 6 to make the backup, and it played in my standalone fine. I did notice a large decrease in quality in one of the special features, but I know this is because of my compression rate. The actual movie was excellent quality. I used deep analysis, so it took me about two hours to burn. Anyway, I wanted to keep my menus on the disk for easy access to what I wanted to see, I used the still pictures options so that they would take up very little space. When I start the dvd, it starts as the original, except for the still pictures, and it goes to the menu fine. My problem is that I cannot use the menu. To go to different parts of the movie I have to fast forward through the dvd. My question is, is there a way to have an interactive menu. Any help is greatly appreciated!
As they say in South Phila - Yo, Martinzen Whatzzzz Happenin' ? Could be better, Huh ? Well little buddy, if I was just using the regular DVDShrink, I leave those menu guys alone. I make stills out of the extras and gain my needed space by keeping only 1 - ACS3 audio stream. All the rest of the audios I kill off. Now, a suggestion - if you find that you need extra room, start by using the re-author function. The easiest guide, and by the easiest I mean to say the simplest to understand can be found here - http://www.chrismccann.co.uk/DVD_Shrink_Re_Author.htm Well there you have it, hope I haven't made you get too lost with my notes, Hopen' ya have a super Holiday, "P"
It might be that if you use still images in the menu for maximal compression, you lose their functionality. Try using the minimum ratio DVD Shrink gives you for the menus instead of using still pictures. They will be slightly larger in size, but more likely they will work. At least I've never had any problems with the menus.
Thank you, I figured out that my problem was in fact re-author. When I dragged the files over, they were just all there, there was no subfolder for main movie, extras, menu, etc. What I did was leave them in the first DVD Shrink screen, without clicking on reauthor, and just minimized the files there. I removed one audio file I had to make certain things still pictures, I minimized the extras to 60%, and I compressed the main movie to 66%. I used deep analysis. I used Nero 6 to burn, and it worked fine. When I popped it in my standalone it worked fine. I noticed no decrease in quality on my 40" screen, not plasma or anything like that, just a good old-fashioned television. Anyway, do you think I wil see a decrease in quality on larger screens, or plasma screens, would my computer's 17" LCD be an accurate portrayal of what to expect on plasma screens? I just don't want to backup all of my movies and then realizen they suck if I try to play them on a better television. Thank you!
Thank you, I figured out that my problem was in fact re-author. When I dragged the files over, they were just all there, there was no subfolder for main movie, extras, menu, etc. What I did was leave them in the first DVD Shrink screen, without clicking on reauthor, and just minimized the files there. I removed one audio file I had to make certain things still pictures, I minimized the extras to 60%, and I compressed the main movie to 66%. I used deep analysis. I used Nero 6 to burn, and it worked fine. When I popped it in my standalone it worked fine. I noticed no decrease in quality on my 40" screen, not plasma or anything like that, just a good old-fashioned television. Anyway, do you think I wil see a decrease in quality on larger screens, or plasma screens, would my computer's 17" LCD be an accurate portrayal of what to expect on plasma screens? I just don't want to backup all of my movies and then realizen they suck if I try to play them on a better television. Thank you!
I'm pretty sure that if the quality looks good on the LCD screen, it will look good also on the TV. I guess the TV has much less pixels than the monitor has and thus also compared to a rather large TV the bad quality of the movie will be easier to notice on the monitor. (Somebody might have some more technical details about the difference between a TV and a monitor....) In the movies I have compressed I've always tried to check out especially parts where there is smoke, fog or clouds or the like, since if the compression is really heavy the "edges" of the smoke will start to be squared.... Close ups of faces are sometimes also parts where you can see the effects of heavy compression. I personally try not to compress more than 30%-35% or so. If the movie still doesn't fit on one dvdr, I split it into two and include all the menus and extras uncompressed. For this I use DVDFab or IFOEdit.
The most I compress the movie is 35% and I haven't noticed anything yet, also I always use deep analysis, thank you.
matinzen, I've got a 60" TV and a 19" monitor and have compressed the living heck out of some movies and unless it's running special effects (as was said before, watch the edges) I notice little or no loss. When other talk about loss, me thinks they are using a mathematical equation to measure loss - My eyes need a bit of help in my older years but the comments of others watching the original and my backup says, "Looks good to me !" Happy Holidays guy, "P"
Hi martinzen, Congatulations on your first succesfull burn! Thats the hard part. Now its just a matter of improving your techniques. Subpictures are the closed caption feature of your movie below the audio box in shrink. You can remove them as well as some audio tracks and still keep your menu as long as you don't re-author. I usually just compress the menus and extras without re-authoring. Good luck, Frank
Ya, I realized that to keep the menu I couldn't reauthor. I have under the main movie two audio types, LPCM 2-ch English and ACS3 6-ch English, and the LCPM is alot bigger than the ACS so I have been removing that file then compressing to the movie to as low as 65% and as high as 70% while the extras are from 60% to 65%. I haven't burnt these discs yet, just ripped them. Do I need the LCPM track, do you know what this is? Thank you!
When I say compressed to as low as 65% I mean 65% of the original, and a 35% decrease, just thought I would clarify because I re-read my post and saw my wording was a little off. Thank you!
You should be able to keep the ACS2 and delete all other audio. The extras, put them into Still Pictures - as was mentioned, DON'T put the Menus into stills, compress, yes, just not to Stills. "P"
matinzen, just make sure you don't delete the wrong audio tracks, you might end up with a movie that has only the directors commentary as only availiable audio track, and you don't want that! I usually leave the 6 channel analog audio track (ACS), since I don't have the equipment for Dolby digital (DTS) and since the 6 channel track works perfectly also if you have only 2 speakers. The digital tracks are usually way bigger than the ACS tracks anyway. Only if the compression ratio would be too with the 6 channel track included, then I take the stereo track instead. The audio tracks with different languages are always clearly marked, so it's easy to erase those in DVD Shrink. The director's commentary tracks are usually at the bottom of the list - sometimes they're clearly marked, but oftentimes not, so just be careful to select the real audio track. Most importantly - once you have ripped and compressed the movie, check it first on a software dvd-player to see that the audio, subtitles (if you need those) and the picture quality are what you hoped for. If yes, then burn it.
Hey, what is wrong with putting the menus into still pictures. I have done it on two discs already, the Led Zeppelin dvds, and besides the fact that it is still pictures and does not look that great works fine.Thank you.
martnzen, My fault good guy, I thought you were having trouble by putting it into stills, So if it works - do it "P"
