Not all standalones are created equal.

There are some DVD titles that come from the store and don't work in some standalones - although that is happening less and less as the format matures.

At any rate, I think CloneDVD is quite nice, and wait to see what Olli has in store. I don't mind running DeCSS...err... I mean DVD Decryptor first, so long as the end result is a better movie.

As for DVDShrink, my major complaint about it is that it doesn't have variable compression. Often, a level 2 compression will make the movie a WEE BIT too big to fit on a DVD-5, but a level 3 will make it only take up 3.3 gigs! I'd like a little more flexibility in that area, and also as someone else mentioned the ability to squish just a little more in order to fit audio.

All these programs have their place, their ups and downs. DVD burning is a black art right now, much like CD burning was a few years back.

In a couple years, we'll have idiot-proof programs that will let you put in a DVD of any type (audio, video, data) and copy it. But until then, we're stuck with the "running a dozen programs that all do essentially the same thing" hell. This is a nice addition to my collection, and I'll probably actually buy it at some point - much as I did with CloneCD.

- Gurm