Found a post from DVDSHRINK himself:


DVD Shrink 3.0 Beta 1
DVD Shrink 3.0 Beta 1 is now available, for those who wish to test.

http://www.dvdshrink.org/
http://www.dvdr-digest.com/software...?file=dvdshrink

The main changes are:

Version 3.0 Beta 1 - 9 Aug 2003

No more compression levels. Instead we have four new settings:
- No compression - original video.
- Automatic - DVD Shrink will choose the best compression ratio.
- Custom - you can select desired ratio (with a slider)
- Still Pictures - as before.

Better quick analysis.
The sample points for initial quick analysis are carefully chosen, and sparse analysis results are interpolated between samples.

New "Analysis" button.
This performs a deep analysis, which (a) guarantees that the predicted target size is met and (b) significantly improves video quality.

New "Analysis Results" file format
The new format is more flexible, used to save results of the initial quick analysis, also deep analysis results or partial analysis results (if you cancel analysis, partial results are saved). Also better checking in case of conflict of CRC values between two DVDs.

One-pass encoding.
Output files are written to HD in one pass, so no longer necessary to make a second pass to fix navigation ptrs. This reduces total encode time by about 5 mins.

Multi-threaded preload buffer (in both analysis and encode modules). While one batch of data is being processed, the next batch is pre-loaded on a seperate thread. This seems to work especially well during quick analysis, where the waiting time for drive seek operations is significantly reduced.

RCE region protection removal, special thanks to Mr.Bass.

New "New Frame" menu option - creates another instance of DVD Shrink, but in the same process. This is used by re-author module which now supports drag 'n drop, or cut & paste, from any window (re-author from multiple disks).

Video preview window shifted to the right-pane, which is where it belongs.

Fixed various strange behaviours in the DVD and Streams View. Also removed the "Compressed" column, since takes up unnecessary space.

Compression % values inverted, so they now represent the ratio of output size to original (small % = big compression).

File reading code now supports output from DVD Decryptor in "Auto" file-splitting mode, or non-split VOB files.

Fixed bug in re-author where only 32 titles could be played in sequence. The limit now is 99.

Added "perform deep analysis" option in backup dialog, thus analysis and re-encode become one sequential operation.

Added "shutdown when complete" option in backup dialog.

Added "remove macrovision" option in preferences (all versions since 2.x have removed macrovision, now it is an option).

Added "remove P-UOPs" option in preferences.

Added "split VOB files" option in preferences, on by default.

Fixed possible problem which may have caused gaps in audio playback.

Removed option to disable menu subpicture streams, as this stream usually contains the menu buttons.

Added option to completely disable video preview.

Moved all hard coded text strings into resource file, so future translations will be complete.

Removed "view Raw DVD" option.

Added "Unreferenced Material" folder, which appears in the main view if material is found on the dvd which does not seem to belong to any menu or title. Previously the existance of this material would cause errors in target size calculations.

Removed "error margin" option - no longer required.

Added "Combine Shared Titles" menu option, which is on by default. Turn this off to seperately list all multi-angle titles (or titles which share the same video with other titles) in the main view. You will need this, for instance, if you wish to re-author only Angle 2, etc.

Fixed TMAP table generation for re-authored titles with angle greater than 1. Seek in PowerDVD etc should now work, whatever the angle.

Various other tweaks and enhancements.

Please enjoy :-)

Sweet thanks for the info.

Nice but it still can't choose a compression low enough to fit the entire DVD, including all audio, down to 4.3GB. I am testing on the Animatrix and have to remove some audio, or set to still-picture. Everything set to automatic is too large - 4640MB

For most DVD this is not really an issue because always removing something but it would still be nice - just so it does not have any limitations over any other programs.

What is wicked about this though is you can now combine titles from different DVDs and re-author to one

This would be good for Gangs of New York for example.

This version is superb! The Automatic adjustments are great and having full manual control of the quality makes it even better.

The author should start making this shareware or something because I know many people who are willing to pay for software this good.

Fedorov.

I'm just glad that I can now re-encode a flipper DVD to one DVD+RW without a bunch of hassle. DVDShrink has my vote.

RCE gone !

Beta 3 now available - www.dvdshrink.org

I wonder if we're going to see layer break taken care of soon.

One of the best pieces of freeware written, if you haven't tried it yet, get it now!

Actually, I have been trying it with a bunch of different DVDs and it seems to compress everything quite well. Maybe the Animatrix is unique.

I have used the deep scan analysis feature, just because its there , and the results are very impressive. I have not done comparisons with and without deep scan though so I do not know how much improvement it really is.

I have now switched from my registered CloneDVD to using DVDShrink. AnyDVD has too many bugs and some of the discs don't read in it. It also screws around with normal CDs when inserted into my DVD-ROM. I have it disabled right now. But more important, DVDShrink is way better and more flexible in how you can apply more compression to extras and less to main movie. I also prefer the still picture of DVDShrink to the grey screen of CloneDVD (even if still picture takes a bit more space - it is so small it probably is not an issue of CloneDVD's grey-screen working better so can give more room for main movie.

For Animatrix, I think I read somewhere that you shouldn't remove the P-UOPs otherwise for some bizarre reason it'll screw it up.

Does ReAuthor mode keep the menu and flashy intros now?

Nope but it's planned for later. People are already working on the bitmaps and interactivity. So for now -

Re-author = no menus

Cant wait!

Do you know of any commercial and freeware programs that does this?

Thanks FutureProof.

There's just one from memory and, again from memory it's at digital-digest.com

DVD Shrink with the capability to include functinal menus and intros where desired will make it the premier user friendly software in the genre. Cant wait.

Cheers FutureProof.

I agree with you burke55, also, if only there was the added feature where the user can make finetuned adjustments from the corresponding compression algorythem, or at least view what is being applied to the encoded algorythem...?

Still a great peace of softy.

This feature already exists in version 3.

I was using 2.3.

Shrink 3.0 does not allow one to include functional menus as part of the reauthoring function....only if one decrypts the entire film with or wiothout compression and that leaves out most dual layer DVD.

The only transcoder that allows you create a movie-only plus working chapter menus is CloneDVD. InstantCopy purports to drop titles - and so it does, just so long as you don't expect the DVD to play afterwards!

But, now that Elby have got rid of the exasperating grey screens that used to stand in the stead of the deleted titles, CloneDVD makes a damn good fist of it. The titles disappear, the menu is retained (and works). If you select a non existent item from the menu, the screen blinks briefly and the menu is redisplayed: an elegant solution.

The quality is good and this is my transcoder of choice at the moment. (If only they'd bullet that bloody sheep...)

-Pete

PS (When do I get my $5, Olli )

i've used instant copy 8 to remove title sets while retaining the rest of the dvd's structure, menus and all. are u referring to IC7?

Indeed I am. I wasn't aware that '8' was any different, apart from its high speed mode.

Have you tested this extensively, because occasionally - just occasionally - I could get '7' to drop titles successfully...

-Pete

i've tested it on a few dvds, and didn't have problems with any of them. unlike in IC7, where title removal was only accessible with a registry hack and usually resulted in an non-working dvd, it's an actual feature in IC8.

I have also tested IC8 and it can keep the menu with the extras dropped. It seems to work the same way as CloneDVD. If you go to an extra that you have removed it will just come back to the same menu screen.


P.S. The fast mode usually takes about 30-40 minutes on my computer. CloneDVD seems to be a bit faster, around 20-30 minutes.