Now that I have the actual DVD burning issues behind me for the moment >> I was initially trying to burn a 7.8Gb project to DL and absolutely hate the majority of compression programs as you can play chess or checkers on the end product for all I care. I have been looking for a compression program for so long that lets You the user control the amount of compression and in helping out on another thread today came across mention of DVD shrink (tried this about a year ago and hated it too) and decided to have another look at it! Not only am I surprised by it in it's present form - I'm thrilled by it! That so called 7,8Gb project became a 4.2Gb end product and I honestly cannot see any fall-off whatsoever in the quality. I imagine I could probably compress the whole project to about 10Mbs and it would be just as good - LoL! If you ain't tried it yet and have one or two big projects lying around - try it out. It rocks!!!! Also now that I'm burning again (at least for now) I thought I'd like to give a mention to Nero's ultra buffer and smart encoder..... I love the speed of it and the quality compared to prior versions..... Still for those of us who use programs like DVD Lab Pro for higher-end work and Power Director (which I love too) hat's off to DVD shrink for making life a lot easier and to Nero for at least getting something right of late - for the most part Ver 7 is a horror story though many of you will disagree, until that is it all starts to go horribly wrong for you as well!!! For now as a long-time user and lover of version 6 it's nice to see the engine ot a little it of a tune-up and she's runnig smooth again for now.....
Cost for one: where I live right now you cannot readilly get your hands on a dl disc and to import one would set you back around $25-30 after mail and customs duty are taken itno consideration. Last one's I bought were inIreland and cost me around €16 each. An 8X 4.7 SL disc costs me around 75 cents or so and there's plently of them here in Venezuela.... That's probably the best reason. That in mind I shrunk the project for fear of coasterizing yet another of my DL discs since I only have 3 left from the 5 pack I Bought. On the first 2 now sit respectably a bottle of Polar Ice (the local Beer) and a bottle of Coke. I have a few 4.7 re-writables so I shrunk the project and burned it to one. So impressed was I by the result I burned to a -R and called it quits! I didn't need to sacrifice another DL at the price, I ultimately used just one 4.7 disc which I have in relatively plentiful supply and recycled the rewritale. That's more than enough reason for anyone to shrink I would imagine (if the end quality justifies the means), unless of course there's a whole bunch of millionaires and non eco-consciencious folk lying about. - And I'm growing sick of my coaster collection too!
