Hi rooter,

I'm not sure I follow what you mean by some movies "...have the option grayed out..." What option?

Express will always compress, unless the file size is smaller than a SL disc or you have enabled DL burning (make sure DL burning remains unchecked if you want to compress).

Gold will never compress and will always split to two SL discs unless the file size is smaller than a SL disc or you have enabled DL burning.