I'm a total virgin to this wonderful world. Can someone please tell me the easiest way to shrink & burn onto dvd-r my downloaded movies.I have dvd/shrink & nero but if I try & open files in shrink it cannot find them....
A quick trip to http://www.dvdshrink.info and a trip through the virtual guides will give you an idea of how the program operates and what buttons to push to make things happen in the right order. The ripper (decryption software) in DVD Shrink is becoming outdated. So, using a driver type decrypter like AnyDVD is advisable, especially with the newer movies produced after July 04 (some have newer encryption Shrink can't handle). Read the AnyDVD description at slysoft and try the 3 week trial. http://www.slysoft.com DVD Decrypter can be found at http://www.dvddecrypter.com and is a necessary program in anybody's arsenal. You can do the quick guide for it at DVDShrink.info as well. Comprehensive guides can be found at http://www.doom9.org . With that info you should be able to rip just about anything and encode with Shrink and burn automatically with Nero. If you haven't changed anything, Nero should already be set to burn. Double check in the Backup window to make sure and if you're doing a full disc or a big movie, use the analysis and quality settings. So it won't be too large a post I'll add some beginner information below.
Info for beginners: (I'll mention a few popular programs, but there are others of these types.) Backing up factory DVD movies has 3 basic steps and a few things to remember. The steps are: 1)Decrypt/deCSS; One could add edit, but that isn't always necessary. 2)Encode/Transcode (Fit to the target disc, shrink when necessary); 3)Burn. You can have one program that does it all, some programs do a couple of the steps and some only do one step or one step at a time. Decrypting can be done with driver type decrypters like AnyDVD or with apps such as DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink. DVD Decrypter is used to decrypt and rip files to the (HD) hard drive. If DVD Decrypter is going to be used as a burner, 2 important things have to be remembered. 1)Use the ISO read mode to decrypt and 2)the file size has to be below 4.37 (GB) gigabytes. If the file is above 4.37GB, DVD Decrypter cannot burn the ISO file to a 4.7GB disc. [Note: 4.7 is a retail designation for a disc; the actual size of a 4.7 disc that a computer reads is 4.37GB.] File size is important to know. DVD Shrink can be used to decrypt and rip to the HD. Normally though, Shrink is used to decrypt a disc, using a temporary file, and transcoding the file in preparation to be burned. Nero isn't part of Shrink, but is the default app that Shrink uses to burn automatically. Shrink can also use DVD Decrypter in ISO burn mode and CopytoDVD can also be used. I suggest Nero, as DVD Shrink is already set to use it. There are a number of transcoding programs, browsing the forums can get a lot of info on those. It's already been mentioned what they do. Just remember, simply speaking, this step is to prep the file for burning. There are a number of apps on the market now. Due to laws, most of the popular recording programs now are trancoding and burning programs. These recording programs have to have a decrypter. With a driver type decrypter the program runs as though it was one of the older ripper programs that did everything. With the manual type decrypters the files are ripped to the HD and the file then has to be opened by the recording program. Burner or recording programs are either incorporated into programs or are separate in recording suites. I mentioned Nero as it is a favorite on many forums and a favorite of mine. There are others. I find CopyToDVD to be a good choice as well. DVD Decrypter is a good freeware choice.
the movie was a divx gained from Etomi but I find it impossible to shrink it, I tried to open file but dvd/shrink just does not want to.I tried to burn it straight with nero but it just states that the disc is to small.Do i need some difo software or even some other kind of disc? a point in the right direction would be most appreciated.
For divx,neither dvd shrink, or dvd decrypter, will work.Your divx avi needs to be converted to mpeg 2, and then to vob files and then nero will burn it for you. One of the easiest ways to do this would be in Nero Vision Express,NVE does this all for you.
Dr Divx and VSO Divx to DVD are a couple of good apps to have when working with DivX. Doctor DivX is a retail app and the other is a freebie from VSO. You can find it on the CopyToDVD site and at Download.com.
vso divxtodvd is a very good FREE program,I just recently started using it.I didnt mention it because, I figured since he had nero,that NVE would be the ticket. Divxtodvd is even simpler to use then NVE and from my experience,much faster with pretty much the same results. link to vso divxtodvd:http://www.vso-software.fr/download.htm
thank you both. priceless advice. worked a treat. if your ever in scotland i'll buy you a pint............
hobbie You're welcome. I'll have to note in my schedule, free pint in Scotland. LOL Now I'll have to save the air fare to collect. I hear the whiskey is better than the ale though.
