I've just started creating DVDs using DVD Shrink and I can't decide whether or not to keep the menus. I would like to keep them but not if it significantly affects the compression ratio of the main movie. I'd be curious to know how many of you keep the menus on your discs and, if you do, whether you compress them down a bit.
For example, the menu on the film I have today is 8MB in total. I tried removing it and this only improved the compression ratio of my main movie by 0.1% Do you think perhaps this improvement was only small because I need to change the settings to give the main movie stream priority in lack of compression or something?
Anyway, in short, I'd appreciate any advice on whether a menu of 8MB makes much of a difference in the picture quality of the main movie.
Different users of Ad will give you different answers. You can use all free programs to decrypt, analyze, and shrink. Personally I use a couple of paid for programs to get the job done, but like I said it can all be done for free.
VobBlanker
This is a very handy tool that allows you to remove anything you desire from the DVD. I use DVDReMake Pro now, but used VobBlanker for years. VobBlanker Home Page Link jsto's home page also has a guides area to read about how to use the program. There is also a guide that my buddy "alkohol" wrote on the forum that gives a pretty good idea of the use of the program. Alkohol's Guide You will find that after you use it a few times it is really simple.
Basically you can do just about anything with these programs. There is another program which is a very good program to handle everything. It is harder to find now, and will not be updated again, but you can get it here:
DivX-Related/RipIt4Me.shtml" target="_blank">RipIt4Me Link
When RI4M opens DVD Shrink you just need to analyze the movie. Then you can open it in VobBlanker to edit the files before you use DVD Shrink.
You should be able to have your % ratio around 70% or higher. If you do not have a good burning engine there is a free one for that as well.
As I said before, these are all free versions of software that you may use to backup your original copy. There is another free software that has a basic version or a pro version which you pay for. It is called DVD Rebuilder. you may read about and download it from the home site. DVD Rebuilder Link
Before I end this I would also like to mention that there is another really great piece of software called AnyDVD, and CloneDVD2. You can get a 21 day free trial of the software. Many users like the combination and they are updated regularly. You might give them a try and see if you like it. Slysoft Link
Yes, I have a question relating to DVD menus as above please. I've just started creating DVDs using DVD Shrink and I can't decide whether or not to keep the menus. I would like to keep them but not if it significantly affects the compression ratio of the main movie. I'd be curious to know how many of you keep the menus on your discs and, if you do, whether you compress them down a bit. I'd appreciate any advice on whether a menu of 8MB makes much of a difference in the picture quality of the main movie. Thanks.
Well I personally keep menu's, but not everybody does. If the menu's are too large there is a free program called Menu Shrink that you can use to make motion menu's into stills. I do not use it, so I can't vouch for it. I've heard that many people enjoy it. You are suppose to be able to keep sound or use it without sound on the menu's. You can find it here: Menu Shrink Link
I use a program called DVD ReMake Pro. You have to purchase that software, but you have the option to replace menu's, change menu's, restructure the DVD, etc.! It is a fantastic program to have if you backup as many DVD's as I do. Like I mentioned in the last post I made, you can use the free program VobBlanker to do a lot of what DRMP does, but not all. It is fantastic for removing items in the DVD that do not matter or that you do not want.
The big problem that many people have is dealing with DVD's that have both wide screen and full screen. This is where VobBlanker is fantastic. However, there is also a menu in the structure of the DVD that gives you a choice of WS or FS. With VobBlanker you will have to remember what you chose, but with DVD ReMake Pro you have the ability to change the menu and or the structure. Most of the time changing the menu is the easiest way to go. Learning DVD Structure is a little more complicated.
no 8MB's does not make a big difference at all, if you use shrink using the quality enhancements help a lot, and back when i was using shrink then Nero Recode2 i used the full disc option.
you can check out the free versions of DVD-RB with HC encoder if you are worried about quality, the only negative is it's more time consuming depending on your PC specs.
BTW, i am almost using DVD-RB Pro W/CCE encoder with all my backups now.
