DVD Shrink v3.2b3 comparative tests

ddlooping
You can relay to Shrink that I am pleasantly surprised by the success of his current achievement. I was a bit skeptical that he could pull it off without a complete overhaul. He managed to do a good job with what he had.

 

This is not earth-shattering, brobear, simply contrary to what many have experienced, and what dvdshrink has stated several times.

If that was indeed proved to be true, my tests would be also skewed.
They would still have some significance though, as the source for all the backups was the same for all the softwares, if not identical to the original.

Also, v3.2b3 would be even more at a disadvantage.
For each scene, one clip was taken from each backup using DVD Shrink "Start/End" feature (first use of "No Compression", excluding the making of the source).
Each of these "clips" where then used once in each compilations (second use of "No Compression").
But for a given scene, the same DVD Shrink clip was used several times.

Example, the "flames" scene:
The number between brackets indicate the number of times each backup was run through "No Compression".

v3.2b3 (2) - DVD2One v1.4 Constant Bitrate (2)
v3.2b3 (3) - IC8 (2)
v3.2b3 (4) - CCE (2)
v3.2b3 (5) - DVDCopy2 (2)

So if "No Compression" had an adverse effect on video streams, each DVD Shrink clip would have degraded in quality each time it was inserted in a new compilation.
The v3.2b2 / DVDCopy2 comparison would have been so skewed in DVDCopy2 favor as to be totally useless.

Not earth-shattering, but a fair amount of wasted time for me and those who downloaded my tests.


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_X_X_X_X_X_[small]~ ddlooping~
For DVD Shrink and related softwares guides and downloads, please visit http://www.dvdshrink.info[/small]

 

Thanks for doing the test, vurbal.

Here is what dvdshrink has to say about this issue:

There are some known cases when "Automatic: 100%" will still compress a title.
This would be when the quick analysis reports an overal size not requiring compression ("Automatic: 100%"), when compression is actually required.
The actual compression ratio during backup might then end-up being 98-99.x% (guessing here).
This would explain vurbal's test results, but this would be far from generating the "softening/color subdueing" effect described by brobear.

Let's hope dvdshrink's investigation will bring some answers.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]~ ddlooping~
For DVD Shrink and related softwares guides and downloads, please visit http://www.dvdshrink.info[/small]

 

Did any one see where I say trivial difference, good picture, you had to be looking for it and under certain conditions which I described. The 100% was custom so should have been locked. No compression was used as well. A person who could have cared less picked 2 out of 4 clips for the Shrink twice in a blind. That was 100%. With a monitor you are on top of it and a 60" exaggerates any difference. I don't have a clue as to what, but there is a minute amount of filtering happening somewhere. As I said the anomaly doesn't occur with 4 other recording programs I use. [bold]Everyone seems to act as though something extraordinary has happened. This very slight change in contrast, which most people might not notice, in no way detracts from the good aspects of the improved DVD Shrink. Everyone is making more fuss over this miniscule change than noticing my positive appraisal of the program.[/bold]
_X_X_X_X_X_[small][bold]'brobear'[/bold]

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brobear, your positive feedback hasn't gone unnoticed, far from it, and is very much appreciated.

But I'm pretty sure if you were in my shoes, as moderator at the offical DVD Shrink forums, you would also try and find an explanation for this problem.
That DVD Shrink "changes" color content, sharpness, etc etc, has been said many times.
The reason is always compression artefacts at moderate to high levels of compression.
For it to happen at "No Compression" or to be noticeable in a blind test at "Automatic: 100%" is another matter entirely, and the issue, whetever it is, needs to be addressed.
What do I reply to someone who reports the same problem?
"Well, it happens, but no-one knows why."?

I agree it might not be a big deal for most dvd-backupers, but it is important to me, and no doubt dvdshrink.
After all, it's his coding.
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_X_X_X_X_X_[small]~ ddlooping~
For DVD Shrink and related softwares guides and downloads, please visit http://www.dvdshrink.info[/small]

 

Thanks for the added information, vurbal.

9,594,880 Bytes is roughly 10MB.
This would give us a 0.25% discrepancy on an average 4GB video stream.
I do not think that would be enough to create a noticeable difference.

Let's hope dvdshrink finds an explanation to this issue.

 

ddlooping

I backed up the 175 minute LOR II which Shrink reported at 52.8% compression, I think that qualifies as high comression. I let the movie run in its entirety and watched it as closely as I could and outside of the slight lost of sharpness I saw no identifiable artifacts.

I'm going to rip some DVD's today using no compression and 100% compression. I will compare them to rips made by DVD Decrypter and Smart ripper. Ill be looking at comparing the total file sizes.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930)[/small]

 

Thanks for the positive feedback, Sophocles.

I'm about to backup "Face/Off" R1 with v3.2b4 and IC8.
That should also be a good test.

 

One thing I can say about a 4GB variance: when the burner is writing the closing of a disc, it can prevent it from happening. I've gotten a coaster from playing too close to the limit.

 

I did have similar problems, but they were all entirely due to bad media.
With Verbatim Datalife+ or Ritek G04 Grade A I can afford to change my target size to 4,474mB with no problem.

 

DVD Shrink and Nero 6. I moved the adjustment into the red in the custom setting, just playing around with the compression settings. I put it back in auto, and the disk burned to the end and wouldn't close. The files were there and I could go into the files and open in a viewer, it just wouldn't open up in a player and the log stated the error was in closing. Guess I caused it, but it should have gone back to the safe zone when I changed back to auto. Never had that happen with Recode2 in Nero or with any of my other programs.

 

ddlooping
We've been through the media question many times. Datalife for a while was the same disc made for Memorex, Maxell and Imation. I have all 4 made by Ricoh, which I hear isn't a bad manufacturer. Haven't used the Ritek though. I use DVDIdentifier and DVDInfoPro to check the discs. I can also check the disc for any write errors or bad sectors.

Memorex has switched to CMC Magnetics, which I hear isn't one of the better discs. The 'brand' companies shop around from different manufacturers. So, the consumer has a hard time of knowing what is being purchased.

One of the nice things about DVD Shrink, after you burn a disc, you can load the burned disk in Shrink and the analysis will often catch a flaw if there is one. Makes for a quick test tool.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small][bold]'brobear'[/bold]

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DVD Shrink is very strict in terms of what you "feed" it, and indeed works well as a quick testing tool.

 

I never saw that in the other guides. Do you put that in yours? Just have a section in there for the things Shrink can do besides transcode a video. Be a shorty, but that would be a good slot to explain about using Shrink as a ripper.

 

I hope you guys find this as boring to read as it was to do it. LOL


Here are the results of my rip file size comparison, used a type 5 DVD and did no picture quality comparisons.

DVD Decrypter

4,505,970,688

SmartRipper

4,505,970,688

DVD Shrink no compression

4,505,968,640

DVD Shrink 100% compression

4,505,968,640

Both of the no compression rips and the one with100% compression file sizes were the same. I checked my settings and then ripped with Shrink then again using no compression ripped the movie again and the file size was still the same.

4,505,968,640 w

DVD Decrypter’s and SmartRipper’s files were exactly the same but DVD Shrink came in at 2048 Bytes smaller.

Individual files that were different. ALL ARE IN KB.

DVD Decrypter DVD Shrink

183,298 VTS_01_0 183,296

1,048,422 VTS_01_01 1,048,574

1,048, 522 VTS_01_02 1,048,574

1,048,498 VTS_01_03 1,048,574

1,048,344 VTS_01_04 1,048,574

20,282 KB VTS_01_05 19,762

All other files were identical in number and size. I realize this probably doesn’t mean a thing.

When I ripped with shrink I used custom size for the 100% compression.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930)[/small]

 

I intend to add quite a lot of new guides to DVDShrink.info when v3.2 Final is released, and might just include what you suggested.
Good idea, brobear, thanks.