Getting to this stage is covered in Part 1

When the analysis is complete you will be presented with what appears to be an intimidating dialogue:



This window displays[list=1][*]On the left hand side, are the contents of the DVD (the /VIDEO_TS/ folder), in expanded format just like Explorer. Typically, the Menus, Main Movie and Extras “Structures” are displayed.[*]On the right hand side are the Video, Audio and Subtitle “Streams”.[/list=1]Let’s inspect this window carefully

• Note the green bar – DVD Shrink has already determined the compression required to fit the ripped files onto a recordable disc; in this case 4,464 MB. The actual capacity of a DVD recordable is 4482.269 MB so we’re doing ourselves out of just under 20MB – not bad.
• Compression is 54%; I’m not sure I like that level of compression and since I own the DVD, I’m going to leave a few things out. I can watch the extras any time I like with the original – I just want to pop in a disc and watch with no FBI warnings and other nag Chapters.
• There are two audio streams but I only want the 6-ch stream since stereo is no fun on my 5.1 system.
• I don’t need the Greek subtitles (sorry Hemispasm) but I do need the English subtitles but only because Legolas and others speak some Elvish during the movie, the translation of which, is also contained within the subtitles *sigh*.
• The little movie preview screen is to check that you have selected the main-movie Video Stream if the Stream Information is unclear, which it can be at times; or you can check out what’s in the other streams.
• Notice that there’s no apparent feature to allow for specific Chapter ripping; we’ll deal with this in Part 3

Click on “No Compression” – jingoes! Whoa! Check-out that red bit! Now my green bar is, in a big way, part red; it’s the red bit that just ain't gonna fit onto my DVD-recordable.



Here, as you may realise, you can deselect any streams you don’t wish to have on the backup. Personally, I keep just the Main Movie, English Subtitles (for those annoying times when the character does speak in a language other than English) and Dolby AC3 6-ch or DTS. So, the next thing I’m going to do now, is uncheck the Greek subtitle and the “AC3 2-ch English” Audio Stream to save some megabytes, thus:



Now, with Automatic Compression, I’m up to 60% but there’s still a lot of red bar to get rid of. Next stop is the Menus and Extras because I just don’t need ‘em. Uncheck the unwanted Audio Stream[s] and turn the Video into “Still Pictures”. We’ve saved all of the Audio megabytes but we’re stuck with 19MB of “Still-Picture” Menus and 61% Automatic Compression.



That’s the best we can do with automatic compression for the moment. Click on “Automatic” compression in preparation for the rip. If you haven’t yet run Deep Analysis then you can do it now. It improves output quality as it analyses all frames instead of 1 in every 100 (as for quick analysis). It also makes the estimate of the target size much more precise (less chance of an over or under-sized backup). Another interesting point about this deep analysis, is it can be stopped at any time. The partial analysis file will still be used by DVD Shrink on the corresponding portion of the DVD, and any subsequent deep analyses of the same disc will be appended to it (DVD Shrink will not start from scratch); even if you close the program.



Click the “Backup!” icon on the Tool Bar and you’re invited to choose a path – I always add in the VIDEO_TS folder – and you can also change the Provider ID, which can remain default at this point.



Click OK and if there’re any existing files DVD Shrink will let you know.



Then you’re away. I did this DVD with the rig described in my sig – XP Pro, XP 2600+ & 512MB RAM



Sometimes, DVD Shrink does not like a ‘non-browsed’ path (when you just type it in); if you get this error then just browse and create the folders as you browse, or go into Explorer and create them there.



Good luck. Got problems? Then post here