Using Shrink or Decrypt - the resulting quality on the newly burned DVD is pretty sad. How can I rectify this? Thanks is advance.
Since you dont give us much to go on. What do you mean by "sad",is it pixilated? does it freeze?It could be that your using cheap media. Depending on the size of the movie, you maybe using too much compression. Do you know about the reauthor feature in dvd shrink?You can cut out, and compress various parts of your disc, to preserve the quality on the movie itself. Check out some of the guides in the link in my sig,you shouldn't be seeing that much of a difference from the original. Try bbmayo's site and ScubaPetes also.
Thank you for the feedback. The picture I get when I use Shrink is like watching digital cable on a high-def TV - its terrible. Guess thats the best I can describe it for now. I bought the DVD +- media - a Memorex spindle of 100. Is there a preferred brand? Thanks in advance.
Welcome to the forum, unfortunately Memorex is not one of the preferred media around here. The best quality media is Taiyo Yuden, which is for the most part only available through online dealers. Retail the best is Verbatim, Sony, Maxell or Fuji. Choice of media does make a difference in quality, also the amount of compression of the movie. You can try DVDShrink using the deep analysis and quality enhancements :~)
OHHHHH NOOOOOO...you said the "M" word. LOL Memorex is the scourge of this forum, and every other forum I'm a member. Sorry to hear you bought a 100 of them. Most memorex I.D. as CMC MAG...definitely bottom of the line. Taiyo Yuden,Verbatim,Maxell,Fuji,Sony,all are much much better than Memorex, and usually are cheaper.I buy mine online from supermediastore,or meritline. http://www.meritline.com/ http://www.supermediastore.com/index.html I have a 65 inch HDTV and unless I try to use too much compression,its hard to tell my backups from the originals.
You're not using it right. Remove everything but the movie and the AC3 5.1, like Jim says. Some movies will then require no compression, and will copy at 100%. Always rip to HD using DVDDecrypter (in file mode) first. Then run shrink on those files, with maximum full-quality options (both). I can compress just about anything, at 90%, and you can't tell it from the DVD :^) Except the movie just plays - I don't have to wade through a whole bunch o' BS, FBI warnings, trailers, commercials, menus, etc... Good luck, L8R
how big is the TV you are viewing these movies on? I ask because the bigger the TV, the bigger the flaws will appear. Hi-Def will also amplify the flaws. If quality is your concern (as it was with me) the best way to go is DVD Rebuilder and CCE (Cinema Craft Encoder). It takes a while to encode, even with a high end system but well worth it in my opinion. It'll cost you $60 US as well, but a free trial is available. CCE has 2 versions-Basic and SP. Basic is the $60 version, SP is about $2000 but don't let that make you think that Basic is crap. It's still the best out there for people like us. The trial of Basic only allows you to encode a few minutes, thus not really giving you that good of an idea on its capabilities. The trial of SP will encode the whole movie, but will leave a watermark on the movie (you'll see their logo throughout the movie). Here is a guide on using it: http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvd_rebuilder_tutorial.cfm It's a bit outdated, but it's not too tough to figure out. If time is an issue but you're still willing to spend money, DVD Copy 3 is a great choice (not the same as DVD X Copy). Best quick encoder out there. Drawbacks are it only burns at full capable speed and it's recommended to limit burn speed on movies at 4x. But you can burn the movie with another program like Nero. I experienced problems with the menus and some other people did too, but most don't have any problems with it. If money is an issue as well, Decrypter and Shrink are the way to go. After you click the Backup button in Shrink, hit the Quality Enhancements tab and check Deep Analysis and Quality Enhance. Most people recommend smooth, but I prefer sharp.
Not wishing to go too off topic here, I saw a 42" DLP (HDTV) TV yesterday. The picture quality is top notch. Any of you guys seen any of these? How do they compare to other types of large HDTV? I do not like plasmas, rear projectors or LCDs. The picture quality, IMO, just is not there. Pulsar
They go up to 54" Look at this link & view the vids, quite interesting... http://www.dlp.com/dlp_technology/dlp_technology_overview.asp Pulsar
Guys, I used a combination of decryptor, shrink and Nero. Worked well the first time around. Like you said, the quality was a huge improvement over my initial attempts (even with Memorex!) The second time however, the "burn" button on Nero just did not activate and refuses to do so. Same process - but won't burn. Does anyone know what the reason for this might be?
that would be due to wrong burner selected in Nero if you have more than one drive, or a disc that's not blank being inserted, or no blank disc at all...
Checked the DVD - everything seems ok - Nero even recognizes it. Could this be an issue with the "Database" option (under Configure)? As of now its set as follows: Use Local Nero CD Database: Program Database Path (unselected) User Database Path (unslected) Use Internet CD Database Read Server (Check Box - Selected) freedb.freedb.org Port... Submit Email Address (Selected) It sucks being a newbie.
Jude......... don't give up........ the more you burn the more you learn! I too used to used MemorX......they are not the best and you will have probs with freezing, skipping and pixilations....if not now, one time or other you will! READ THIS: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm But use them up...... practice on them and don't be afraid to try new things! Next time go online and buy Taiyo Yuden disks, here: http://supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-silver-thermal-8x-dvd-plus-r-media.html Also...... I find that after you use DVDDecrypter to get the movie on your hard drive, use DVDRemake to take out all the stuff you don't want on the DVD like warnings,previews, even hide menu buttons or just take the menu out! This will allow you to shrink the movie down less to fit to a DVD5(Which will make better quality cause you're not shrinking the movie too much)! I use DVDREbuilder to shrink the movie and keep quality high. After which you can burn the movie in DVDShrink, DVDDEcrypter, CopytoDVD or any other program of your choice! I love it and if you put a little effort into it you can be a DVD BACkUP burning fool...... LIKE ME! HAHAHA
