DVD Shrink Guide

DVD Shrink Guide

Original Page URL: http://www.dvdr-digest.com/articles/23_1.html

Author/Publisher: Digital Digest

Date Added: Oct 28, 2004

Date Updated: Oct 28, 2004



Introduction

Most DVD movies are dual layered (4.7 GB to 9.4 GB), while DVD recordable media are only

single layered (under 4.7 GB) - this means that sometimes you'll have to split a DVD movie

onto two DVD recordables (instructions on how to do this can be found here).



DVD Shrink is the a free software that allows you to "shrink" existing DVD movies (by

removing content or reducing their quality) so that they will all fit onto a single 4.7 GB DVD

recordable. DVD Shrink is the first software of this kind that is actually free, and has DVD

decryption functions built right into the software.



DVD Shrink allows you to reduce the size of the DVD in two ways. One is to remove content from the DVD

(eg. remove extra features), and the other is to keep all the original content, but reduce their quality and

hence, file size. This guide deals with both methods.



The shrinking process will reduce the quality of the movie (that's where the file size reduction comes from).

If you want to keep the original quality of the DVD, then you can use this method to split your 9.4 GB DVD

onto 2 4.7 GB DVD recordables.



While quality has been reduced, the content of the DVD (eg. subtitles, extras) can be left untouched. It is

also possible to select which part of the DVD gets "shrunk" and which remains the same (eg. shrink the

extras, but keep the movie untouched), as well as completely stripping away content (eg. only keep the

main movie).



DVD Shink 3.1 and later now comes with DVD burning capabilities (required Nero Burning ROM), which

makes DVD Shrink even more complete and the backup process even easier.



Summary of procedures :



1. Optional : Ripping the DVD - Rip the DVD with DVD Decrypter prior to using DVD Shrink

(Recommended);



2. Setup DVD Shrink - Setup DVD Shrink when using it for the first time;



3. Configuring the backup - Using DVD Shrink's Full Disk or Re-Author modes to backup the

entire DVD, or just parts of it;



4. Choose how to burn the backup - Choose to use DVD Shrink's built-in burner, or use

external tools to burn the backup;



You can start using this guide/tutorial by going to the next page or clicking here.



Archived versions of this guide (for the older 1.x and 2.x versions of DVD Shrink) are also available at the

end of this guide. To proceed with this guide, select only one of these sections from the index below.





Disclaimer : While making backups of DVDs that you already own for personal use is perfectly legal (as it

falls under fair use), it is illegal if you make backups for commercial gain (such as selling your backups, or

selling/returning your original after making a backup). This guide is present for educational purposes only,

and does not condone any form of piracy.







Using an External Decrypter

The following instructions are for using DVD Shrink with an external DVD ripper, specifically with DVD

Decrypter. Doing this requires more hard-disk space, but will mean less constant DVD-ROM access

(although to be fair, the access is no worse than playing back two DVD movies one after the other). It also

means that certain specially protected DVDs will work with this method, rather than ripping

within DVD Shrink itself (more information here). If you don't want to do this (ie. you want to use

DVD Shrink's built-in ripper, and don't mind the extra DVD-ROM usage), then go to "Step 1 : Setup DVD

Shrink" or click here to skip ahead. Otherwise, read on ...

Requirements (for this step/page):

14 GB of free hard-drive space (up to 8.76 GB for ripping DVD, up to an additional 4.38 GB for backup

disc)





Software Downloads (for this step/page):

DVD Decrypter









i. Insert the DVD you plan to backup. Start DVD Decrypter.



ii. From the "Mode" menu, select the "File" mode (or press the "F" shortcut key). This should

load the DVD and display all the files on the DVD in the window on the right hand side.



Important #1 : You need to remember which title set and files contains the main movie.

The main movie's title set and it's files are highlighted by DVD Decrypter upon loading

(sometimes not all the files in the set are highlighted, since they may not be part of the

movie). In the picture below, the highlighted title set is VTS_01 (although VTS_01_0.VOB is

not highlighted and not included in the set).









Ripping in File Mode - highlighted files contains main movie









Now highlight all the files (we want to rip every single file on the DVD) by using the mouse,

or pressing the "CTRL-A" shortcut key.





iii. Now change the destination of the output file by clicking on the icon.



Recommendation : I recommend that you rip the DVD to a folder of its own, as opposed to

ripping the files into a folder where files already exists.









Selecting the output destinatination - make sure there's enough hard-disk space, which is

not the case in this picture

iv. This step is optional. We can change some of the settings for DVD Decrypter to

specify the ripping options. To do this, from the "Tools" menu, select "Settings". Then, go to

the "File Mode" section.









Selecting the File Mode options









The options that are of interest are :



a. Remove IFO/BUP RC Protection - removes region protection from the copied

DVD

b. Remove IFO/BUP RCE Protection - removed RCE protection (an advanced form

of region protection) from the copied DVD

c. Remove PUOs - some DVD movies prevent certain actions to be taken at certain

time (eg. you can't change the subtitles while the movie is playing, or your can't

skip past the copyright message). This option will remove these limitations.









v. Now click on the large "Decrypt" button to start the copying process. DVD Decrypter

will now copy all the files on your DVD to your hard-drive. You can close down DVD

Decrypter once it has finished ripping all the files.









Start the Decryption by clicking on this button



Optional: If you want to get better quality within DVD Shrink, you can optionally use the steps in this guide

to process the ripped DVD (using VobBlanker) prior to using DVD Shrink.







Step 1 : Setup DVD Shrink

In this step, we configure the DVD Shrink settings. You only need to do this for the first time you use DVD

Shrink, and so if you've already setup DVD Shrink, go to the next step (Step 2 : Configuring the backup) or

click here to skip ahead.







Software Downloads (for this step/page):

DVD Shrink 3.x









1. Start DVD Shrink.



2. From the "Edit" drop down menu, select "Preferences". In the window that pops up, you can

configure several of DVD Shrink's options :

DVD Shrink - Preferences - Preferences









The options explained :



1. Target DVD Size : - this states the target size of the backup you wish to make. Normally,

the default option of "DVD-5 (4.7GB)" is what you will need if you plan to make single disc

backups. Note that 4.7G in DVD-R notation actually translates to 4.38GB in normal

computer notation (eg. those that is reported in Windows Explorer) - this is because 1G is

equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes, whereas 1GB is equal to 1073741824 bytes (1024 x 1024 x

1024). Alternatively, you can specify your own custom size in MB.



2. Hide audio and subpicture streams of insignificant size - on certain DVDs, there may

be lots of audio/subpicture streams that are not important in terms of shrinking (ie. they

can't be shrinked much). Selecting this option will make sure these insignificant streams are

not shown, which is the recommended setting.



3. Automatically open VIDEO_TS subfolders - when this option is selected, DVD Shrink will

look for the "VIDEO_TS" sub-folder in your current folder and use it for backup. There's no

harm in leaving this option selected.



4. Run analysis and backup in low priority mode to improve multi-tasking - if you plan

to use your computer while you are shrinking, then selecting this option will mean that DVD

Shrink will only run when there is free CPU power. There's no harm in leaving this option

selected (it won't make processing slower if you are not multi-tasking).



Now go to the "Preview" tab ...









DVD Shrink - Preferences - Preview









5. Enable video and audio preview - this option should be selected, as it will help you see

what you're backing up

6. Select audio preview mode ... - this option determines what surround mode the audio

preview will be in



7. Select DirectX video renderer : - VMR-9 allows other video application to work while you

are previewing video in DVD Shrink. If you don't plan on using other applications, then

select VMR-7 or Overlay Mixer, as these modes will be faster.



Now go to the "Output Files" tab ...









DVD Shrink - Preferences - Output Files









8. Remove Macrovision protection - the name says it all



9. Remove P-UOPs - selecting this option removes prohibited user operations (eg. copyright

screens that you can't skip past, or not being able to change the audio track while playing

the movie). I would keep this option selected, as I hate being forced to watch a DVD in a

certain way.



10. Remove layer break - dual layered DVDs have a layer break which causes a small pause in

playback. Since we're backing up to single layered DVD±R/RWs, keep this option selected.



11. Split VOB files into 1GB size chunks - DVD compliancy requires VOB files to be less than

1GB, so make sure you have this option selected.



12. Logical remapping of enabled streams - if you remove content from the DVD, then

selecting this option will cause DVD Shrink to remap the content so that you don't notice the

missing content (eg. if you remove a subtitle track, then it will no longer show up as an

option on your DVD player's subtitle selection menu). There's no harm in leaving this option

unchecked, as this option doesn't always work.



Now go to the "Stream Selections" tab ...









DVD Shrink - Preferences - Stream Selections

13. Audio language and coding type, Subpicture language - these options determine the

default language/audio types DVD Shrink will backup. For example, you can set it up to only

backup French LPCM tracks with English subtitles (if the DVD you are backing up has these

options)



14. Disable all subpicture ... - select this option if you don't want any subtitles, other than

menus and forced subtitles (those that you cannot turn off normally, eg. when a character is

speaking in a foreign language)



Now go to the "File I/O" tab ...









DVD Shrink - Preferences - File I/O









15. Enable overlapped I/O - as the caption says, this may increase I/O performance during

ripping



16. Read 32KB blocks - again, this is related to DVD ripping performance



17. Check RPC2 drive region code when opening a DVD - disabling this option may solve

some problems with DVD drives that have hacked region-free firmware



18. Enable burning with Nero - this option enables integration with Nero Burning ROM. Keep

this option selected, since we can choose not to use Nero to burn the disc later on



19. Always erase non-empty RW media without prompting - if you don't select this option

and the disc you want to write to is not empty, then DVD Shrink will prompt you to erase

the disc or insert another one



Press "OK" to save your preferences ...









3. If you want to change the way DVD Shrink's toolbar looks, then from the "Edit" drop down menu,

select "Toolbar Buttons". In the window that pops up, you can select a different toolbar :

DVD Shrink - Toolbar Buttons









Step 2 : Configuring the backup

In this step, we start the DVD shrinking process and decide what content on the DVD we should backup, and

the final quality of the backed up copy.









1. If you used an external DVD ripper, then click on the "Open Files" button and load in your ripped

files. Otherwise, click on the "Open Disk" button - this should bring up a new window. From the drop

down menu, select the drive which contains your DVD movie.









DVD Shrink - Open Disk









2. DVD Shrink will now scan through your DVD and work out how much compression can be achieved.

It only needs to do this once per DVD (and it will remember analysis data, so that the next time you

backup the same DVD, you won't need to go through the long analysis process again). The initial

analysis is just a quick analysis, and it is not to be confused with the Deep Analysis performed at a

later stage.









DVD Shrink - Analysing DVD

3. By default, DVD Shrink should select the "Full Disk" mode for you, which will keep all the content on

the DVD, but will shrink the contents so that it will fit onto a single DVD recordable. The other

option, "Re-author", allows you to remove content from the DVD (eg. keep only the main movie). It

is here that you'll have to decide which mode you want:



I want to backup the entire DVD

I only want to backup part of the DVD









I want to backup the entire DVD



1. Make sure you press the "Full Disk" button to select this mode.









DVD Shrink - Full Disk







2. DVD Shrink should now display 3 different panels. The top left panel is the Content Tree

panel, which shows the contents of the DVD in a tree structure. The panel just below that is the

preview panel, which you can use to playback the currently selected content (in the Content

Tree panel). The large panel to the right is the Compression Settings panel, which allows you

to adjust the compression settings of the currently highlighted content.









DVD Shrink - Views







3. Let's take a close look at the Content Tree. This panel shows the structure of your DVD. Each

DVD has three main components : Menus, Main Movie and Extras (and also sometimes

Unreferenced Material, for things that DVD Shrink can't classify). Each component can have

many titles (eg. Extras : trailers, TV spots, documentaries ... are all separate titles). The file

size, both before and after shrinking/compression, is also shown, as is the duration.









DVD Shrink - Content Tree







To specify a single compression level for the entire DVD, click and highlight the "DVD" item.

Otherwise, you can click and highlight any particular component or title to change it's

compression level individually, which brings us to ...



4. ... the "Compression Settings" panel. This panel shows the various streams (eg. video, audio,

subtitles) of the currently selected DVD, component or title, as well as the compression level

you define for the currently selected DVD/component/title.









DVD Shrink - Compression Settings







By default, the "Automatic" setting is selected, which lets DVD Shrink automatically find the

highest "compression percentage" (shown just below the options drop down box - the

screenshot above has a compression percentage of 64.3%) for the given amount of available

space for the backup. The compression percentage is the size of the shrunk file as a percentage

of the original size, but you can also think of this percentage is the percentage of quality the

backup will have compared to the original (although a file that if 50% of the size of the

original, will usually not be as bad as having only half the quality of the original). The other

options are "No Compression", "Custom Ratio" which lets you select a custom compression

percentage using the slider bar and "Still Pictures", which is the highest compression level you

can get (but the movie will now resemble a slideshow).

Note that with the custom ratio, the lowest compression percentage you can select may differ

from title to title, and this is because some titles can be compressed more so than the others -

the analysis that DVD Shrink did at the beginning determines how much you can compress a

particular title.









DVD Shrink - Compression Options







Our goal now is to select the highest possible compression percentage that will bring our DVD

under the selected target size. We would also need to ensure the picture quality is not too poor,

and preferably, that the main movie will be higher in quality than the extras.



5. You may have noticed the green (or perhaps partly red, or grey) bar just below the toolbar.

This bar shows the current size of the backup. The green part shows what will fit within your

target size, while the red part obviously shows how much is over the target size and the grey

part shows part of the target size that remains unused. As you can see from the screenshot

below, our backup is 5371 MB in size, while our target size is only 4.38 GB. So basically, our

goal is to shrink our 5371 MB DVD to under 4464 MB, and therefore, ensure this bar is

completely green.







DVD Shrink - Size Bar







Already mentioned above, one way to achieve this is to adjust the compression percentage in

the Compression Settings panel. Another way is to user the Compression Settings section to

deselect any unwanted streams (eg. removing the "Director's Commentary" track, which could

save some 200 MB in space).



The combination of removing streams and compression percentage settings is what determines

the quality and final size of your back. It is this combination that is crucial, and yet, this is the

part that I can't really help you with, since each DVD is different.



A tip is to make use of the preview panel, and right click on the panel to select different audio

options (as well as a full screen mode) to see what you can remove and what you can't.









DVD Shrink - Preview Options







As an example, this is what I have done with the Pirates of the Caribbean (Region 1) DVD to

shrink it under 4.38GB :

o Menus : Custom - set to lowest compression percentage (compression percetage 48.8)

o Main Movie : - kept only the first sound track, kept captions, Automatic (compression

percentage 70.2)

o Extras : Custom - set to lowest compression percentage (compression percetage 59.9)









DVD Shrink - Shrunked Sizes







Once the graphical size bar at the top turn completely green, it means that we are within our

target size, and that we can successfully burn a backup DVD.



6. You can now skip ahead to the next step (Step 3 : Choose how to burn the backup)









I only want to backup part of the DVD



1. Click on the "Re-author" button to select the Re-Author mode.









DVD Shrink - Re-Author







2. What we are trying to do here is to create a new DVD, and then bit by bit add what we want

from the DVD we want to backup to the new DVD. The left hand side of DVD Shrink shows

the new DVD we will be creating and also the preview panel. The right hand side (DVD

Browser tab) shows the content of the original DVD that we want to backup.



3. Let's take a close look at the DVD Browser. Here, you can navigate the contents of the DVD

just like you would normally do in Windows Explorer. Double clicking on a "folder" will open

up its contents, and you can use the "Back" button to go up to a higher "directory".

DVD Shrink - DVD Browser







A DVD is divided into three components, the Menu, the Main Movie and the Extras. By re-

authoring, we can decide which parts of the DVD gets backed up. The most common

application of this function is to backup only the main movie.



4. Double click on the "Main Movie" component/folder, and DVD Shrink should now show you

all the titles available in the current folder. Each component can have many titles (eg. Extras :

trailers, TV spots, documentaries ... are all separate titles), or in the case of the main movie,

usually just one title.









DVD Shrink - Main Movie - Titles







5. To backup the main movie, drag the titles in the Main Movie folder to the left side of the

screen. Repeat for any other content you also wish to backup.









DVD Shrink - Drag Over Titles







6. Let's take a closer look at the left side of DVD Shrink, or what I have dubbed the "Content

Tree" and the "Preview Panel".









DVD Shrink - Content Tree







The screenshot above shows that the new DVD we want to author has only one title currently

(the main movie title we dragged over in the previous step). I have also renamed the newly

authored DVD to "Pirates of the Carribean - Movie".



You can right click on any particular title and select the default Audio and Subpicture streams

that will be used when playing back this title. The screenshot below shows that I have selected

the English - Normal Caption to be displayed by default.









DVD Shrink - Default Streams







Just below the Content Tree is the Preview Panel. You can right click on the panel to select

different audio options (as well as a full screen mode) to see what you can remove and what

you can't, and this is very useful to find out exactly what you are backing up, as well as what

audio/subtitle streams you want to keep.









DVD Shrink - Preview Options







7. Now select one of the titles in the Content Tree, and then click on the "Compression Settings"

tab on the right hand side. This panel shows the various streams (eg. video, audio, subtitles) of

the currently selected content, as well as the compression level you define for the currently

selected DVD/component/title.









DVD Shrink - Compression Settings

By default, the "Automatic" setting is selected, which lets DVD Shrink automatically find the

highest "compression percentage" (shown just below the options drop down box - the

screenshot above has a compression percentage of 64.3%) for given the amount of available

space for the backup - this is the size of the shrunk file as a percentage of the original size, but

you can also think of this percentage is the percentage of quality the backup will have

compared to the original (although a file that if 50% of the size of the original, will have a

better quality than 50% of the original). The other options are "No Compression", "Custom

Ratio" which lets you select a custom compression percentage using the slider bar and "Still

Pictures", which is the highest compression level you can get (but the movie will now resemble

a slideshow).



Note that with the custom ratio, the lowest compression percentage you can select may differ

from title to title, and this is because some titles can be compressed more so than the others -

the analysis that DVD Shrink did at the beginning determines how much you can compress a

particular title.









DVD Shrink - Compression Options







Our goal now is to select a compression level that will bring our DVD under the selected target

size. We would also need to ensure the picture quality is not too poor, and preferably, that the

main movie will be higher in quality than the extras (if any).



8. You may have noticed the green (or perhaps partly red, or grey) bar just below the toolbar.

This bar shows the current size of the backup. The green part shows what will fit within your

target size, while the red part obviously shows how much is over the target size and the grey

part shows part of the target size that remains unused. As you can see from the screenshot

below, our backup is 5371 MB in size, while our target size is only 4.38 GB. So basically, our

goal is to shrink our 5371 MB DVD to under 4464 MB.







DVD Shrink - Size Bar







Already mentioned above, one way to achieve this is to adjust the compression percentage in

the Compression Settings panel. Another way is to deselect any unwanted streams (eg.

removing the "Director's Commentary" track, which could save some 200 MB in space).



9. Another way we can reduce the size further is by editing out content from the titles in our new

DVD. To do this, select a title in the Content Tree and click on the "Set Start/End Frames"

button.







DVD Shrink - Set Start/End Frames







A new window should open with two distinct sections - one for selecting the start frame, and

the other for selecting the end frame. For example, if you wanted to cut out the credits, then

leave the "Start Frame" section alone, and adjust the "End Frame" section to cut out the end

credits. You can use the slider bar to do this, or use the chapter selection drop down menu to

select the last chapter you want to include. For this particular DVD, the credits start at Chapter

16, so I have selected the End Frame to be at the end of Chapter 15 (see screenshot below).









DVD Shrink - Set Start/End Frames







10. Now repeat the above for all the titles you wish to copy. As an example, this is what I have

done with the Pirates of the Caribbean (Region 1) DVD to shrink it under 4.38GB and to keep

only the main movie and some trailers :



o Menus : - did not include any

o Main Movie : - kept only the first sound track, kept captions, Automatic (compression

percentage 80.2)

o Extras : - copied over title 39 (trailers), set compression to lowest (compression

percentage 64.8)







11. Once you have finished authoring your new DVD, you can now go to the next step (Step 3 :

Choose how to burn the backup)







Step 3 : Choose how to burn the backup

In this step, we will now burn the backup.







Requirements (for this step/page):

A blank DVD





Software Downloads (for this step/page):

ImgTool Classic and DVD Decrypter 3.1.7.0 or better

or

Nero Burning ROM (Demo version is fine)









1. Now click on the "Backup!" button and you should be presented with a couple of more options.









DVD Shrink - Backup









If the current predicted size of the shrunk DVD is larger than your target size, then you may

encounter the following screen first:









DVD Shrink - Target DVD Size Exceeded









Even if you exceed the target size, DVD Shrink can still let you backup this DVD (by selecting "Yes"

on this screen), but you risk not being able to fit your backup onto a single blank DVD.



2. If you have Nero 5 or later installed (the demo version will work), then you will have three options

in the "Burn with Nero to the following device" drop down menu:

o Burn With Nero - Burn the movie straight to a blank DVD by selecting your DVD burner

device;

o Create ISO Image File - create a ISO disc image file that can be burned later (with Nero

Burning ROM or other DVD burning software) or create the image and burn with DVD

Decrpyter straight away;

o Hard Disk Folder - copy the backup to a folder on your hard-drive

DVD Shrink - Backup Target









Only the first option will require a working version of Nero Burning ROM (the demo will do) to be

installed - this option is recommended if you have Nero Burning ROM installed. The second option

comes with two sub-options, one that just creates the image, and another that burns the image to

disc using DVD Decrypter. If the first option doesn't work for you (eg. if you get a burning error),

then try the second option. Only use the third option (Hard Disk Folder) if you are used to using

ImgTool + DVD Decrypter.



If you don't have Nero installed, then you'll see a similar screen, but with the first option missing.



If you select the Hard Disk Folder option or if Nero is not installed, you will also get an additional

option called "Create VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS subfolders". Ensure this option is selected at all

times, as otherwise, the output may not be all that useful.



For all three options, you need to select a directory to store the output (or temporary files).



3. Now click on the "DVD Region" tab. Here, you can ensure the backup is region-free, or set to a

particular region.









DVD Shrink - DVD Region









4. Now click on the "Quality Settings" tab. Selecting either options below will mean more encoding

time, but better quality. These options are no substitute for using less compression, so it's always

best to ensure compression is set as low as possible.

DVD Shrink - Backup Quality Settings









The options that you can select are:



o Perform deep analysis ... - selecting this options will double the backup time, but will

improve quality. You could also have selected this function by pressing the appropriate

button on the toolbar, and if you did it before, this option will not be available. This option

will also be unavailable if you chose no compression as the backup setting.



o Compress video with high quality adaptive error compensation - this is a new option

introduced in DVD Shrink 3.2, and sets which video properties the DVD shrinking process

should optimize the output for, smoothness (fluid motion, but blurry image) or sharpess

(sharp image, but more choppy motion).









5. Now click on the "Backup Options" tab.









DVD Shrink - Backup Options









The options that you can select are:



o Run backup in low priority mode - select this option if you plan on using other

applications while DVD Shrink is shrinking.



o Shutdown computer ... - select this option if you want DVD Shrink to shutdown your

computer after it has finished shrinking.



o You can also select a sound file to play when DVD Shrink finishes shrinking.

6. Finally, click on the "Burn Settings" tab (only visible when Nero is installed). The options here will

only be available if you chose the burn straight to disc or create ISO image options. You can specify

a volume label for the burned disc or image, and in the case of an burned disc, you can specify

some additional options.









DVD Shrink - Burn Settings for ISO Images









DVD Shrink - Burn Settings for Stright to Disc Burns









The options are:



o Burn Speed - select the burn speed to matches your drive/media's maximum allowed

speed.



o Book type DVD-ROM - this option makes DVD players recognise your DVD+R/RW discs are

a DVD-ROM, and hence improves compatibility with players that don't fully support

DVD+R/RW. This option may only work with a selected range of DVD burners that support

bit-setting (eg. Ricoh).



o Burn at least 30mm - this is again a compatibility option for DVD+R/RW drives









Press "OK" when you are ready to start the shrinking process, which may take quite a while,

depending on your CPU and the length of the movie (and whether you have selected deep analysis

or not).

7. The encoding window will now show up with an estimated completion time. You can select the

"Enable Video Preview" option if you wish to see a preview of what's being re-encoded currently -

deselect this if you want to speed up the encoding a bit. Remember that if you selected deep

analysis, then the first "Time Remaining" display is for the analysis, and then the shrinking process

will take roughly the same amount of time again.









DVD Shrink - Deep Analysis or Encoding









When it's all done, DVD Shrink should show the following screen:









DVD Shrink - Backup Completed









8. If you selected the burn straight to disc option, then you're finished with this guide/tutorial. If you

selected "Create ISO Image" without the "burn with DVD Decrypter" option, then proceed to the

Burn Image section whenever you need to burn the DVD Shrink created image. If you selected the

Hard Disk Folder option, then proceed to the Create and Burn Image section.









Create and Burn Image



1. Before we make an image, you should make sure the backup DVD Shrink has made is in fact

working properly. You can do this by using a software DVD player like the latest versions of

PowerDVD or WinDVD, both of which supports playback of DVD files from the hard-disk.

Only continue on if the disc is working perfectly, otherwise, DVD Shrink may not have been

setup properly, or it doesn't work for your particular DVD (and please make use of the bug

report forum to report this problem).



2. Start ImgTool Classic. If you are using ImgTool Classic for the first time, you will be

presented with the following window:









ImgTool Classic







(if you lose focus on this window, then the only way you can bring it back is to minimize all

your other windows).



The options are:



o Split image into 1GB chunks - select this option if you are using a FAT32 system (eg.

Windows 9x/Me)



o Burn generated image using DVD Decrypter - make sure this option is selected.

Then, use the "EXE file" button to load in the DVD Decrypter EXE file. Also make

sure you specify the drive letter of your DVD burner drive.







When you have finished setting up ImgTool Classic for the first time, press the "Save" button

to save your settings. You can always re-configure these settings from the "Settings" menu in

ImgTool Classic.



3. ImgTool Classic should now start for real. ImgTool Classic is very easy to use, so for the

"Source Directory" box, load in your DVD Shrink created backup folder (if the DVD Shrink

created VOB files are in g:\temp\VIDEO_TS, then load in g:\temp). Similarly, specify a

location for the output file (an DVD image file in .ISO format that will be used by DVD

Decrypter to burn your backup). For "Volume ID", specify a name you would like for the

image/disc.

ImgTool Classic







All that's left to do now is to ensure your blank disc is inserted into your DVD burner drive,

and then, press the "Image" button to start the image and burning process.



4. ImgTool will then finish creating the image and use DVD Decrypter to burn your backup disc,

and you're now finished with this, hopefully not too painful, guide.









Burn Image



1. We'll now burn the DVD image file(s). Insert a blank DVD disc in your DVD writer drive.

Start DVD Decrypter. From the "Mode" menu, select "ISO" -> "Write".









Selecting the ISO Write mode







2. Now use the icon to load in your .iso image file. Make sure the "destination" selected is your

DVD recorder drive. Settings should be set to :



o Data Type : Mode1/2048

o Write Mode : DVD

o Write Speed : MAX

3. Now click on the large "Write" button to start the writing process. DVD Decrypter will now

write your image file(s) to your blank DVD.









Start the DVD writing by clicking on this button







4. We're done!!









Guide Archive : DVD Shink (1.x) Guide

Below is an archived version of the previous version of the DVD Shrink Guide (for DVD Shrink 1.x).



There are two versions of the DVD Shrink (1.x) Guide - please select a version :



 Using the Built-in Decrypter - Uses the built-in DVD decryption feature of DVD Shrink to make

backups



 Using an External Decrypter - Uses an additional piece of software, DVD Decrypter, to decrypt the

DVD prior to using DVD Shrink to make backups









Using the Built-in Decrypter

This method involves using DVD Shrink's built-in DVD decryption engine. The problem with using the built-in

decrypter, as opposed to an external DVD ripper like DVD Decrypter, is that DVD Shrink's decrypter does

not support all the necessary DVD ripping features, such as Macrovision/RCE ripping. It will also access your

DVD-ROM drive during the entire shrinking process, which may reduce the lifetime of your DVD laser (or at

least make your DVD-ROM drive pretty hot). Using DVD Shrink's built-in decrypter will mean less hard-disk

space is required (since you won't need to copy the entire DVD to your hard-drive first). If you prefer to use

an external DVD ripper, please refer to this method.



The shrinking process will reduce the quality of the movie (that's where the file size reduction comes from).

If you want to keep the original quality of the DVD, then you can use this method to split your 9.4 GB DVD

onto 2 4.7 GB DVD recordables.



While quality has been reduced, the content of the DVD (eg. subtitles, extras) can be left untouched. It is

also possible to select which part of the DVD gets "shrunk" and which remains the same (eg. shrink the

extras, but keep the movie untouched).



Okay, let's start ...







Requirements :

Operating System capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP) - not required if you

want to burn the DVD without making an image using Nero Burning ROM (see Step 5);

4.38 GB of free hard-drive space

1 x blank DVD.





Software Downloads :

DVD Shrink 1.03 (Mirror 1 | Mirror 2)

DVD ImgTool (ImgTool 0.89)

DVD Decrypter

Optional : Nero Burning ROM





Summary of procedures :



1. DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink - Use DVD Shrink to reduce the size of the DVD to fit into one

single DVD±Rs;



2. Creating the DVD image using ImgTool - Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for

burning;



3. Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter - We go back to DVD Decrypter for the final step by

burning the image file created in the previous step onto a blank DVD.









Step 1 : DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink



1. Start DVD Shrink.



2. Select the big "DVD Drive" button to select "DVD mode", which basically means that we will

be "shrinking" files directly from the original DVD. From the drop down menu on the right,

select the drive which contains your DVD movie.









Selecting DVD mode and loading in your DVD









3. Now we will select the target size of the shrinking process (that is, what is the maximum file

size that the DVD Shrink-ed files can be). Most DVD recordables are 4.7G (4.38 GB). Some

older DVD recordables (DVD-R 1.0) can only record to 3.95G, and you can also define a

custom size for the target by selecting the "Custom" option and entering a custom GB

(remember : 1 GB = 1024 MB) value. For this tutorial, I have selected 4.7G (4.38 GB) as

the target size. When you have finished, press the "Next" button.



4. Select the big "Re-encode" button, which will do the shrinking we require. The graphics at

the top shows the current size of the ripped DVD files. The green part shows what will fit

within your target size, while the red part obviously shows how much is over the target size.

As you can see from the screenshot below, our ripped files are almost 6.5 GB in size, while

our target size is only 4.38 GB. So basically, our goal is to shrink our 6.5 GB DVD to 4.38

GB.

Selecting Re-encode mode









5. DVD Shrink will now scan through all your ripped files and work out how much compression

can be achieved. DVD Shrink defines compression as "levels". A low level (level 1) will mean

limited shrinking (higher quality), while a high level will mean greater shrinking (at the

expense of quality). There are currently 8 levels, and after scanning through all your files,

DVD Shrink should now show the file size each level will shrink to. What we want to do here

is to select a level that is nearest and below our target size. Since the target size I selected

in the previous step was 4.38 GB, the target level that is nearest and below this target size

is level 7, which probably won't give the best quality.









Selecting a compression level









The screenshot above show that I have selected level 7 - note that this level will apply it to

*all* of the content on the DVD. DVD Shrink also allows you to select specify different

compression levels for different parts of the movie (eg. menus at highest compression,

movie at lowest compression and extras somewhere in between). Instructions on how to do

this are shown below, but if you are happy with defining a single compression level for *all*

of the content, then press "Next" to continue.



Optional : Customizing compression levels for different streams



First of all, click on the "Customize Streams" button to open the "Advanced Stream

Selection" window.







Customize Streams

DVD Shrink allows you to specify a custom compression level for each VTS set. A VTS set

can contain a range of different content, for example, a single VTS set may contain 2

trailers, 3 teasers and a featurette. Usually, the main movie in contained in a single VTS set

(see Important #1 notice - for our example, the main movie is located in VTS set 1). Each

VTS set will have a menu, and the actual movie (or set of movies). Each movie may also

have a set of audio and subpicture (subtitle) streams.









The structure of a typical VTS set









The key aim here is probably to heavily shrink (by selecting a higher compression level) for

all the menu and extra objects, remove any unwanted audio/subpicture streams and try to

keep the main movie at the highest quality by selecting a lower compression level (or no

compression at all).



The "option" menu within the "Advanced Stream Selection" window allows you to select

what is expanded and shown in the tree style representation of the DVD VTS structure. You

can also manually expand/collapse any branch by clicking on the various items using your

mouse.



If you have trouble knowing which VTS set contains what, there is a preview option that you

can use within DVD Shrink. Next to the "No Compression" option, there is a little "Play" icon.

Clicking on it will allow you to playback the VTS set.









Preview Window



Okay, let's get started. First, I selected all compression level 8 for the video streams of all

VTS sets. Then, I selected level 3 compression for VTS set 1 (the main movie) and

deselected two of the alternative audio streams, which equates to a total DVD size of 4.18

GB (selecting level 2 compressions means 4.51 GB, which is over our target file size). This

means that we can still afford to lower the compression level of another VTS set, and I have

decided to lower the compression level of VTS set 4 (which contains a documentary for the

movie) to level 1, which brings the the total DVD size to 4.31 GB. While further optimization

along these lines can be achieved, I am satisfied with the 4.31 GB file size.



When you are satisfied, press the "OK" button. You'll notice now that DVD Shrink has set the

"Encoding Level" to "Custom Streams", and the "Expected Size" is now 4.31 GB. Press

"Next" to continue.

Selecting a custom compression level



6. We'll now select where to output the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files. You may have to manually

create a new directory to put all the newly DVD Shrink-ed files into. You can change the

"Target DVD Regions" to select which region the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files will have (by

default, all regions are selected to make a region-free backup). The "Provider ID" allows you

to set who produced this backup - add your name, your cat's name, whatever ...



Press "Next" when you are ready to start the shrinking process, which may take an hour,

maybe less.









Target options









7. The encoding window will now show up with an estimated completion time. You can select

the "Video Preview" option if you wish to see a preview of what's being re-encoded

currently. When DVD Shrink finishes, you can close DVD Shrink and move on to the next

sections, which deal with burning the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files.

Step 2 : Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for burning



1. Note that the latest version of ImgTools, used in this step, has DVD burning capabilities, but

requires the commercial Nero Burning ROM to be installed. Because this guide promises to

be one that uses free tools whenever available, we'll not use ImgTools to burn the DVD, but

rather, we'll use it to make DVD image files after which we'll use DVD Decrypter to burn the

DVD.



2. Before we make an image, you should make sure the "discs" you've made are in fact

working properly. You can do this by using a software DVD player like the latest versions of

PowerDVD or WinDVD, both of which supports playback of DVD files from the hard-disk.

Only continue on if the disc is working perfectly, otherwise, go back to the step 3 and try to

figure out if you've missed copying a file or something similar. If there is something wrong

with playback, then this is most likely due to missing files - try copying the missing files to

the disc that doesn't play and try to find out what the exact problem is.



3. The .IMG image file produced will most likely be larger than 4 GB in size. Windows 98/Me

have problems with single files of larger than 4 GB, and so, it is essential that you do this

step under an operating system capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP). You can

by-pass this problem by burning the 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories without making an image

file, eg. by using the "DVD" recording profile under Nero Burning ROM (instructions are not

provided here, but it is very straight foward for anyone who has used Nero prior).



4. Start ImgTool. Press the "..." button and load in your 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories (eg. if

your backup VOB files are stored in f:\disc1\video_ts\, then load in f:\disc1).



From the "Drive" drop down box, select the first not used drive letter (on my computer,

drive i: is not used yet). Click on the "Make Drive" button, which will make a virtual drive

that will contain the contents of your 'disc1' or 'disc2' directory (think of this drive as a

"virtual DVD disc").









Prepare Drive









5. Now click on the "DVD Image" button. This should open a new window. Load in the "virtual

drive" you just created in the step above (again, drive i: on my computer) for the "DVD

Drive" entry. And then choose a location for the output file (make sure you have enough

free disk space) for the "Output Image File" entry. Last, choose a suitable label name for the

disc you will be creating.









Image Settings

6. Finally, check the "Create Disc Image" checkbox to start creating the image files (.img files).

This could take a while (and a lot of hard-disk space). After the image has been created,

press "Cancel" and click on the "Delete Drive" button to remove your virtual drive.









Step 3 : Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter



1. We'll now burn the DVD image file(s). Insert a blank DVD disc in your DVD writer drive.

Start DVD Decrypter. From the "Mode" menu, select "ISO" -> "Write".









Selecting the ISO Write mode









2. Now use the icon to load in your .img image file. Make sure the "destination" selected is

your DVD recorder drive. Settings should be set to :



o Data Type : Mode1/2048

o Write Mode : DVD

o Write Speed : MAX









3. Now click on the large "Write" button to start the writing process. DVD Decrypter will now

write your image file(s) to your blank DVD.









Start the DVD writing by clicking on this button









4. We're done!!









Using an External Decrypter

This method involves using DVD Decrypter to first rip/copy the DVD movie to your hard-drive, and then

using DVD Shrink to shrink the 9.4G DVD so that it will fit onto one 4.7G DVD recordable. While DVD Shrink

includes a built-in DVD decrypter, it does not support all the necessary DVD ripping features, such as

Macrovision/RCE ripping. It will also access your DVD-ROM drive during the entire shrinking process, which

may reduce the lifetime of your DVD laser (or at least make your DVD-ROM drive pretty hot). Using DVD

Shrink's built-in decrypter will mean less hard-disk space is required (since you won't need to copy the

entire DVD to your hard-drive first), so if you wish to use DVD Shrink's built-in decrypter, please refer to

this method.



Fact #1 : DVD recordables are measured in G where 1G = 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) bytes. This is opposed

to GB, where 1 GB = 1073741824 bytes (1 GB = 1024 MB ; 1 MB = 1024 KB ; 1 KB = 1024 bytes). So a

4.7G DVD-R is actually 4.38 GB. This article will use both G and GB notations, and please note that the use

of these notations within DVD Shrink are sometimes wrong.



The shrinking process will reduce the quality of the movie (that's where the file size reduction comes from).

If you want to keep the original quality of the DVD, then you can use this method to split your 9.4G DVD

onto 2 4.7G DVD recordables.



While quality has been reduced, the content of the DVD (eg. subtitles, extras) can be left untouched. It is

also possible to select which part of the DVD gets "shrunk" and which remains the same (eg. shrink the

extras, but keep the movie untouched).



Okay, let's start ...







Requirements :

Operating System capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP) - not required if you

want to burn the DVD without making an image using Nero Burning ROM (see Step 5);

14 GB of free hard-drive space (up to 8.76 GB for ripping DVD, up to an additional 4.38

GB for backup disc)

1 x blank DVD (4.7G).





Software Downloads :

DVD Decrypter

DVD Shrink 1.03 (Mirror 1 | Mirror 2)

DVD ImgTool (ImgTool 0.89)

Optional : Nero Burning ROM





Summary of procedures :



1. Rip the entire DVD using DVD Decrypter - Rip/copy all the files on the DVD using DVD

Decrypter to your hard-drive;



2. DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink - Use DVD Shrink to reduce the size of the DVD to fit into one

single DVD±Rs;



3. Creating the DVD image using ImgTool - Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for

burning;



4. Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter - We go back to DVD Decrypter for the final step by

burning the image file created in the previous step onto a blank DVD.









Step 1 : Rip the entire DVD using DVD Decrypter



i. Insert the DVD you plan to backup. Start DVD Decrypter.



ii. From the "Mode" menu, select the "File" mode (or press the "F" shortcut key). This should

load the DVD and display all the files on the DVD in the window on the right hand side.



Important #1 : You need to remember which title set and files contains the main movie.

The main movie's title set and it's files are highlighted by DVD Decrypter upon loading

(sometimes not all the files in the set are highlighted, since they may not be part of the

movie). In the picture below, the highlighted title set is VTS_01 (although VTS_01_0.VOB is

not highlighted and not included in the set).

Ripping in File Mode - highlighted files contains main movie









Now highlight all the files (we want to rip every single file on the DVD) by using the mouse,

or pressing the "CTRL-A" shortcut key.





iii. Now change the destination of the output file by clicking on the icon.



Recommendation : I recommend that you rip the DVD to a folder of its own, as opposed to

ripping the files into a folder where files already exists.









Selecting the output destinatination - make sure there's enough hard-disk space, which is

not the case in this picture









iv. This step is optional. We can change some of the settings for DVD Decrypter to

specify the ripping options. To do this, from the "Tools" menu, select "Settings". Then, go to

the "File Mode" section.









Selecting the File Mode options









The options that are of interest are :



a. Remove IFO/BUP RC Protection - removes region protection from the copied

DVD

b. Remove IFO/BUP RCE Protection - removed RCE protection (an advanced form

of region protection) from the copied DVD

c. Remove PUOs - some DVD movies prevent certain actions to be taken at certain

time (eg. you can't change the subtitles while the movie is playing, or your can't

skip past the copyright message). This option will remove these limitations.









v. Now click on the large "Decrypt" button to start the copying process. DVD Decrypter

will now copy all the files on your DVD to your hard-drive. You can close down DVD

Decrypter once it has finished ripping all the files.









Start the Decryption by clicking on this button









Step 2 : DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink



1. Start DVD Shrink.



2. Select the big "Files" button to select "file mode", which basically means that we will be

"shrinking" files that have already been ripped from the hard-drive. Click on the "Browse"

button and load in the VIDEO_TS.IFO file of the DVD movie you just ripped.









Selecting File mode and loading in your ripped files









3. Now we will select the target size of the shrinking process (that is, what is the maximum file

size that the DVD Shrink-ed files can be). Most DVD recordables are 4.7G (4.38 GB). Some

older DVD recordables (DVD-R 1.0) can only record to 3.95G, and you can also define a

custom size for the target by selecting the "Custom" option and entering a custom GB

(remember : 1 GB = 1024 MB) value. For this tutorial, I have selected 4.7G (4.38 GB) as

the target size. When you have finished, press the "Next" button.



4. Select the big "Re-encode" button, which will do the shrinking we require. The graphics at

the top shows the current size of the ripped DVD files. The green part shows what will fit

within your target size, while the red part obviously shows how much is over the target size.

As you can see from the screenshot below, our ripped files are almost 6.5 GB in size, while

our target size is only 4.38 GB. So basically, our goal is to shrink our 6.5 GB DVD to 4.38

GB.

Selecting Re-encode mode









5. DVD Shrink will now scan through all your ripped files and work out how much compression

can be achieved. DVD Shrink defines compression as "levels". A low level (level 1) will mean

limited shrinking (higher quality), while a high level will mean greater shrinking (at the

expense of quality). There are currently 8 levels, and after scanning through all your files,

DVD Shrink should now show the file size each level will shrink to. What we want to do here

is to select a level that is nearest and below our target size. Since the target size I selected

in the previous step was 4.38 GB, the target level that is nearest and below this target size

is level 7, which probably won't give the best quality.









Selecting a compression level









The screenshot above show that I have selected level 7 - note that this level will apply it to

*all* of the content on the DVD. DVD Shrink also allows you to select specify different

compression levels for different parts of the movie (eg. menus at highest compression,

movie at lowest compression and extras somewhere in between). Instructions on how to do

this are shown below, but if you are happy with defining a single compression level for *all*

of the content, then press "Next" to continue.



Optional : Customizing compression levels for different streams



First of all, click on the "Customize Streams" button to open the "Advanced Stream

Selection" window.







Customize Streams

DVD Shrink allows you to specify a custom compression level for each VTS set. A VTS set

can contain a range of different content, for example, a single VTS set may contain 2

trailers, 3 teasers and a featurette. Usually, the main movie in contained in a single VTS set

(see Important #1 notice - for our example, the main movie is located in VTS set 1). Each

VTS set will have a menu, and the actual movie (or set of movies). Each movie may also

have a set of audio and subpicture (subtitle) streams.









The structure of a typical VTS set









The key aim here is probably to heavily shrink (by selecting a higher compression level) for

all the menu and extra objects, remove any unwanted audio/subpicture streams and try to

keep the main movie at the highest quality by selecting a lower compression level (or no

compression at all).



The "option" menu within the "Advanced Stream Selection" window allows you to select

what is expanded and shown in the tree style representation of the DVD VTS structure. You

can also manually expand/collapse any branch by clicking on the various items using your

mouse.



If you have trouble knowing which VTS set contains what, there is a preview option that you

can use within DVD Shrink. Next to the "No Compression" option, there is a little "Play" icon.

Clicking on it will allow you to playback the VTS set.









Preview Window









Okay, let's get started. First, I selected all compression level 8 for the video streams of all

VTS sets. Then, I selected level 3 compression for VTS set 1 (the main movie) and

deselected two of the alternative audio streams, which equates to a total DVD size of 4.18

GB (selecting level 2 compressions means 4.51 GB, which is over our target file size). This

means that we can still afford to lower the compression level of another VTS set, and I have

decided to lower the compression level of VTS set 4 (which contains a documentary for the

movie) to level 1, which brings the the total DVD size to 4.31 GB. While further optimization

along these lines can be achieved, I am satisfied with the 4.31 GB file size. See the

screenshot below to see what I have selected for VTS set 1 and VTS set 4.

Selecting a custom compression level









When you are satisfied, press the "OK" button. You'll notice now that DVD Shrink has set the

"Encoding Level" to "Custom Streams", and the "Expected Size" is now 4.31 GB. Press

"Next" to continue.



6. We'll now select where to output the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files. You may have to manually

create a new directory to put all the newly DVD Shrink-ed files into. You can change the

"Target DVD Regions" to select which region the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files will have (by

default, all regions are selected to make a region-free backup). The "Provider ID" allows you

to set who produced this backup - add your name, your cat's name, whatever ...



Press "Next" when you are ready to start the shrinking process, which may take an hour,

maybe less.









Target options

7. The encoding window will now show up with an estimated completion time. You can select

the "Video Preview" option if you wish to see a preview of what's being re-encoded

currently. When DVD Shrink finishes, you can close DVD Shrink and move on to the next

sections, which deal with burning the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files.









Encoding









Step 3 : Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for burning



1. Note that the latest version of ImgTools, used in this step, has DVD burning capabilities, but

requires the commercial Nero Burning ROM to be installed. Because this guide promises to

be one that uses free tools whenever available, we'll not use ImgTools to burn the DVD, but

rather, we'll use it to make DVD image files after which we'll use DVD Decrypter to burn the

DVD.



2. Before we make an image, you should make sure the "discs" you've made are in fact

working properly. You can do this by using a software DVD player like the latest versions of

PowerDVD or WinDVD, both of which supports playback of DVD files from the hard-disk.

Only continue on if the disc is working perfectly, otherwise, go back to the step 3 and try to

figure out if you've missed copying a file or something similar. If there is something wrong

with playback, then this is most likely due to missing files - try copying the missing files to

the disc that doesn't play and try to find out what the exact problem is.



3. The .IMG image file produced will most likely be larger than 4 GB in size. Windows 98/Me

have problems with single files of larger than 4 GB, and so, it is essential that you do this

step under an operating system capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP). You can

by-pass this problem by burning the 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories without making an image

file, eg. by using the "DVD" recording profile under Nero Burning ROM (instructions are not

provided here, but it is very straight foward for anyone who has used Nero prior).



4. Start ImgTool. Press the "..." button and load in your 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories (eg. if

your backup VOB files are stored in f:\disc1\video_ts\, then load in f:\disc1).



From the "Drive" drop down box, select the first not used drive letter (on my computer,

drive i: is not used yet). Click on the "Make Drive" button, which will make a virtual drive

that will contain the contents of your 'disc1' or 'disc2' directory (think of this drive as a

"virtual DVD disc").









Prepare Drive

5. Now click on the "DVD Image" button. This should open a new window. Load in the "virtual

drive" you just created in the step above (again, drive i: on my computer) for the "DVD

Drive" entry. And then choose a location for the output file (make sure you have enough

free disk space) for the "Output Image File" entry. Last, choose a suitable label name for the

disc you will be creating.









Image Settings









6. Finally, check the "Create Disc Image" checkbox to start creating the image files (.img files).

This could take a while (and a lot of hard-disk space). After the image has been created,

press "Cancel" and click on the "Delete Drive" button to remove your virtual drive.









Step 4 : Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter



1. We'll now burn the DVD image file(s). Insert a blank DVD disc in your DVD writer drive.

Start DVD Decrypter. From the "Mode" menu, select "ISO" -> "Write".









Selecting the ISO Write mode









2. Now use the icon to load in your .img image file. Make sure the "destination" selected is

your DVD recorder drive. Settings should be set to :



o Data Type : Mode1/2048

o Write Mode : DVD

o Write Speed : MAX









3. Now click on the large "Write" button to start the writing process. DVD Decrypter will now

write your image file(s) to your blank DVD.









Start the DVD writing by clicking on this button









4. We're done!!

Guide Archive : DVD Shink (2.x) Guide

Below is an archived version of the previous version of the DVD Shrink Guide (for DVD Shrink 2.x).



There are two versions of the DVD Shrink (2.x) Guide - please select a version :



 Using the Built-in Decrypter - Uses the built-in DVD decryption feature of DVD Shrink to make

backups



 Using an External Decrypter - Uses an additional piece of software, DVD Decrypter, to decrypt the

DVD prior to using DVD Shrink to make backups









Using the Built-in Decrypter

This method involves using DVD Shrink's built-in DVD decryption engine. The problem with using the built-in

decrypter, as opposed to an external DVD ripper like DVD Decrypter, is that DVD Shrink's decrypter does

not support all the necessary DVD ripping features, such as Macrovision/RCE ripping. It will also access your

DVD-ROM drive during the entire shrinking process, which may reduce the lifetime of your DVD laser (or at

least make your DVD-ROM drive pretty hot). Using DVD Shrink's built-in decrypter will mean less hard-disk

space is required (since you won't need to copy the entire DVD to your hard-drive first). If you prefer to use

an external DVD ripper, please refer to this method.



The shrinking process will reduce the quality of the movie (that's where the file size reduction comes from).

If you want to keep the original quality of the DVD, then you can use this method to split your 9.4 GB DVD

onto 2 4.7 GB DVD recordables.



While quality has been reduced, the content of the DVD (eg. subtitles, extras) can be left untouched. It is

also possible to select which part of the DVD gets "shrunk" and which remains the same (eg. shrink the

extras, but keep the movie untouched).



Okay, let's start ...







Requirements :

Operating System capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP) - not required if you

want to burn the DVD without making an image using Nero Burning ROM (see Step 5);

4.38 GB of free hard-drive space

1 x blank DVD.





Software Downloads :

DVD Decrypter

DVD Shrink 2.x

DVD ImgTool (ImgTool 0.89)

DVD Decrypter

Optional : Nero Burning ROM





Summary of procedures :



1. DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink - Use DVD Shrink to reduce the size of the DVD to fit into one

single DVD±Rs;



2. Creating the DVD image using ImgTool - Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for

burning;



3. Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter - We go back to DVD Decrypter for the final step by

burning the image file created in the previous step onto a blank DVD.

Step 1 : DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink



1. Start DVD Shrink.



2. From the "Edit" drop down menu, select "Preferences". In the window that pops up, you can

configure several of DVD Shrink's options :









DVD Shrink - Preferences









The options explained :



1. Target DVD Size : - this states the target size of the backup you wish to make.

Normally, the default option of "DVD-5 (4.7GB)" is what you will need if you plan to

make single disc backups. Note that 4.7G in DVD-R notation actually translates to

4.38GB in normal computer notation (eg. those that is reported in Windows

Explorer) - this is because 1G is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes, whereas 1GB is equal

to 1073741824 bytes (1024 x 1024 x 1024).



2. Error Margin (MB) : - this specifies the margin of error that you want DVD Shrink

to assume. When you set a target size, DVD Shrink will try to get your DVD within

as close to this target size (but always just under it) as possible. However,

prediction is involved, and the prediction isn't always right. The error margin will

make DVD Shrink aim for a lower target size ("Real" target size = Target Size - Error

Margin), and hence, avoid disk space over-runs.



3. Play video preview whenever selection changes - this changes the default

behavior of the preview window. Checking this option will automatically playback the

preview clip in the preview window, whereas unchecking it will start the preview in

pause mode.



4. Show Gridlines - this is a graphic interface option, which enables/disables gridlines

in the main window panels.



5. Hide audio/subpicture streams less than 1MB - this option, when selected,

hides small audio/subpicture streams that would otherwise clutter up the DVD

Shrink stream view.



6. Show overlapping titles combined - overlapping titles will be combined when

shown in DVD Shrink.

Press "OK" when you have finished setting up the DVD Shrink preferences.



3. Click on the "Open Disk" button - this should bring up a new window. From the drop down

menu, select the drive which contains your DVD movie.









DVD Shrink - Open Disk









4. DVD Shrink will now scan through your DVD and work out how much compression can be

achieved. It only needs to do this once per DVD.









DVD Shrink - Analysing DVD









5. By default, DVD Shrink should select the "Full Disk" mode for you, which will keep all the

content on the DVD, but will shrink the contents so that it will fit onto a single DVD

recordable. This is the mode we want, so if it isn't selected, make sure you press the "Full

Disk" button.









DVD Shrink - Full Disk









6. Let's take a look at the various panels within DVD Shrink :

DVD Shrink - Views









7. The "Titles View" shows the structure of your DVD. Each DVD has three components :

Menus, Main Movie and Extras. Each component can have many titles (eg. Extras : trailers,

TV spots, documentaries ... are all separate titles). The file size, both before and after

shrinking/compression, is also shown.



To specify a single compression level for the entire DVD, click and highlight the "DVD" item.

Otherwise, you can click and highlight any particular component or title to change it's

compression level individually, which brings us to ...









DVD Shrink - Titles View









8. ... the "Stream View". This panel shows the various streams (eg. video, audio, subtitles) of

the currently selected DVD, component or title, as well as the compression level you define

for the currently selected DVD/component/title.

DVD Shrink - Stream View









DVD Shrink defines compression as "levels". A low level (level 1) will mean limited shrinking

(higher quality), while a high level will mean greater shrinking (at the expense of quality).

There are currently 10 levels (plus a "still" level for encoding still frames). Remember back

to when DVD Shrink scanned through all your files - DVD Shrink did this so it can predict the

file size each level will shrink to.



Our goal now is to select a compression level that will bring our DVD under the selected

target size. We would also need to ensure the picture quality is not too poor, and preferably,

that the main movie will be higher in quality than the extras.



9. The graphical size bar at the top shows the current size of the ripped DVD files. The green

part shows what will fit within your target size, while the red part obviously shows how

much is over the target size. As you can see from the screenshot below, our ripped files are

6578 MB in size, while our target size is only 4.38 GB. So basically, our goal is to shrink our

6578 MB DVD to under 4488 MB.







DVD Shrink - Size Bar









We can achieve our goal by setting the compression levels within the "Stream View", and

also by deselecting any unwanted streams (eg. removing the "Director's Commentary"

track, which could save some 400 MB in space). This is the part that I can really help you,

since each DVD is different. As an example, this is what I have done with the Ice Age

(Region 4) DVD to shrink it under 4.38GB :









o Menus : highest compression level (level 8 and 10)

o Main Movie : compression level 5, deselected "Directory's Commentary" audio track

o Extras : compression level 8 for long content, and level 9 for short content

DVD Shrink - Shrunk Sizes









Once the graphical size bar at the top turn completely green, it means that we have reached

our target size.



10. Now click on the "Backup!" button.









DVD Shrink - Backup









If the current predicted size of the shrunk DVD is larger than your target size, then you may

encounter the following screen :









DVD Shrink - Target DVD Size Exceeded









Even if you exceed the target size, you can still backup this DVD - since my shrunk DVD is

only 5 MB above the target size (actually target size of 4.38 GB minus my set error margin

of 30 MB), and within the margin of error, I will choose option 2 and backup this DVD to my

hard-drive.



11. We'll now select where to output the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files (Target Folder). You may

have to manually create a new directory to put all the newly DVD Shrink-ed files into. You

can change the "Target DVD Regions" to select which region the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files

will have (by default, all regions are selected to make a region-free backup). The "Provider

ID" allows you to set who produced this backup - add your name, your cat's name, whatever

...



Press "OK" when you are ready to start the shrinking process, which may take an hour,

maybe less.

DVD Shrink - Backup DVD









12. The encoding window will now show up with an estimated completion time. You can select

the "Enable Video Preview" option if you wish to see a preview of what's being re-encoded

currently. When DVD Shrink finishes, you can close DVD Shrink and move on to the next

sections, which deal with burning the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files.









DVD Shrink - Encoding









Step 2 : Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for burning



1. Note that the latest version of ImgTools, used in this step, has DVD burning capabilities, but

requires the commercial Nero Burning ROM to be installed. Because this guide promises to

be one that uses free tools whenever available, we'll not use ImgTools to burn the DVD, but

rather, we'll use it to make DVD image files after which we'll use DVD Decrypter to burn the

DVD.



2. Before we make an image, you should make sure the "discs" you've made are in fact

working properly. You can do this by using a software DVD player like the latest versions of

PowerDVD or WinDVD, both of which supports playback of DVD files from the hard-disk.

Only continue on if the disc is working perfectly, otherwise, go back to the step 3 and try to

figure out if you've missed copying a file or something similar. If there is something wrong

with playback, then this is most likely due to missing files - try copying the missing files to

the disc that doesn't play and try to find out what the exact problem is.



3. The .IMG image file produced will most likely be larger than 4 GB in size. Windows 98/Me

have problems with single files of larger than 4 GB, and so, it is essential that you do this

step under an operating system capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP). You can

by-pass this problem by burning the 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories without making an image

file, eg. by using the "DVD" recording profile under Nero Burning ROM (instructions are not

provided here, but it is very straight foward for anyone who has used Nero prior).

4. Start ImgTool. Press the "..." button and load in your 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories (eg. if

your backup VOB files are stored in f:\disc1\video_ts\, then load in f:\disc1).



From the "Drive" drop down box, select the first not used drive letter (on my computer,

drive i: is not used yet). Click on the "Make Drive" button, which will make a virtual drive

that will contain the contents of your 'disc1' or 'disc2' directory (think of this drive as a

"virtual DVD disc").









Prepare Drive









5. Now click on the "DVD Image" button. This should open a new window. Load in the "virtual

drive" you just created in the step above (again, drive i: on my computer) for the "DVD

Drive" entry. And then choose a location for the output file (make sure you have enough

free disk space) for the "Output Image File" entry. Last, choose a suitable label name for the

disc you will be creating.









Image Settings









6. Finally, check the "Create Disc Image" checkbox to start creating the image files (.img files).

This could take a while (and a lot of hard-disk space). After the image has been created,

press "Cancel" and click on the "Delete Drive" button to remove your virtual drive.









Step 3 : Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter



1. We'll now burn the DVD image file(s). Insert a blank DVD disc in your DVD writer drive.

Start DVD Decrypter. From the "Mode" menu, select "ISO" -> "Write".









Selecting the ISO Write mode









2. Now use the icon to load in your .img image file. Make sure the "destination" selected is

your DVD recorder drive. Settings should be set to :



o Data Type : Mode1/2048

o Write Mode : DVD

o Write Speed : MAX









3. Now click on the large "Write" button to start the writing process. DVD Decrypter will now

write your image file(s) to your blank DVD.









Start the DVD writing by clicking on this button









4. We're done!!









Using an External Decrypter

This method involves using DVD Decrypter to first rip/copy the DVD movie to your hard-drive, and then

using DVD Shrink to shrink the 9.4G DVD so that it will fit onto one 4.7G DVD recordable. While DVD Shrink

includes a built-in DVD decrypter, it does not support all the necessary DVD ripping features, such as

Macrovision/RCE ripping. It will also access your DVD-ROM drive during the entire shrinking process, which

may reduce the lifetime of your DVD laser (or at least make your DVD-ROM drive pretty hot). Using DVD

Shrink's built-in decrypter will mean less hard-disk space is required (since you won't need to copy the

entire DVD to your hard-drive first), so if you wish to use DVD Shrink's built-in decrypter, please refer to

this method.



Fact #1 : DVD recordables are measured in G where 1G = 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) bytes. This is opposed

to GB, where 1 GB = 1073741824 bytes (1 GB = 1024 MB ; 1 MB = 1024 KB ; 1 KB = 1024 bytes). So a

4.7G DVD-R is actually 4.38 GB. This article will use both G and GB notations, and please note that the use

of these notations within DVD Shrink are sometimes wrong.



The shrinking process will reduce the quality of the movie (that's where the file size reduction comes from).

If you want to keep the original quality of the DVD, then you can use this method to split your 9.4G DVD

onto 2 4.7G DVD recordables.



While quality has been reduced, the content of the DVD (eg. subtitles, extras) can be left untouched. It is

also possible to select which part of the DVD gets "shrunk" and which remains the same (eg. shrink the

extras, but keep the movie untouched).



Okay, let's start ...







Requirements :

Operating System capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP) - not required if you

want to burn the DVD without making an image using Nero Burning ROM (see Step 5);

14 GB of free hard-drive space (up to 8.76 GB for ripping DVD, up to an additional 4.38

GB for backup disc)

1 x blank DVD (4.7G).





Software Downloads :

DVD Decrypter

DVD Shrink 2.x

DVD ImgTool (ImgTool 0.89)

DVD Decrypter

Optional : Nero Burning ROM





Summary of procedures :



1. Rip the entire DVD using DVD Decrypter - Rip/copy all the files on the DVD using DVD

Decrypter to your hard-drive;



2. DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink - Use DVD Shrink to reduce the size of the DVD to fit into one

single DVD±Rs;



3. Creating the DVD image using ImgTool - Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for

burning;



4. Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter - We go back to DVD Decrypter for the final step by

burning the image file created in the previous step onto a blank DVD.









Step 1 : Rip the entire DVD using DVD Decrypter



i. Insert the DVD you plan to backup. Start DVD Decrypter.



ii. From the "Mode" menu, select the "File" mode (or press the "F" shortcut key). This should

load the DVD and display all the files on the DVD in the window on the right hand side.



Important #1 : You need to remember which title set and files contains the main movie.

The main movie's title set and it's files are highlighted by DVD Decrypter upon loading

(sometimes not all the files in the set are highlighted, since they may not be part of the

movie). In the picture below, the highlighted title set is VTS_01 (although VTS_01_0.VOB is

not highlighted and not included in the set).









Ripping in File Mode - highlighted files contains main movie









Now highlight all the files (we want to rip every single file on the DVD) by using the mouse,

or pressing the "CTRL-A" shortcut key.





iii. Now change the destination of the output file by clicking on the icon.



Recommendation : I recommend that you rip the DVD to a folder of its own, as opposed to

ripping the files into a folder where files already exists.

Selecting the output destinatination - make sure there's enough hard-disk space, which is

not the case in this picture









iv. This step is optional. We can change some of the settings for DVD Decrypter to

specify the ripping options. To do this, from the "Tools" menu, select "Settings". Then, go to

the "File Mode" section.









Selecting the File Mode options









The options that are of interest are :



a. Remove IFO/BUP RC Protection - removes region protection from the copied

DVD

b. Remove IFO/BUP RCE Protection - removed RCE protection (an advanced form

of region protection) from the copied DVD

c. Remove PUOs - some DVD movies prevent certain actions to be taken at certain

time (eg. you can't change the subtitles while the movie is playing, or your can't

skip past the copyright message). This option will remove these limitations.









v. Now click on the large "Decrypt" button to start the copying process. DVD Decrypter

will now copy all the files on your DVD to your hard-drive. You can close down DVD

Decrypter once it has finished ripping all the files.









Start the Decryption by clicking on this button









Step 2 : DVD shrinking in DVD Shrink



1. Start DVD Shrink.



2. From the "Edit" drop down menu, select "Preferences". In the window that pops up, you can

configure several of DVD Shrink's options :

DVD Shrink - Preferences









The options explained :



1. Target DVD Size : - this states the target size of the backup you wish to make.

Normally, the default option of "DVD-5 (4.7GB)" is what you will need if you plan to

make single disc backups. Note that 4.7G in DVD-R notation actually translates to

4.38GB in normal computer notation (eg. those that is reported in Windows

Explorer) - this is because 1G is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes, whereas 1GB is equal

to 1073741824 bytes (1024 x 1024 x 1024).



2. Error Margin (MB) : - this specifies the margin of error that you want DVD Shrink

to assume. When you set a target size, DVD Shrink will try to get your DVD within

as close to this target size (but always just under it) as possible. However,

prediction is involved, and the prediction isn't always right. The error margin will

make DVD Shrink aim for a lower target size ("Real" target size = Target Size - Error

Margin), and hence, avoid disk space over-runs.



3. Play video preview whenever selection changes - this changes the default

behavior of the preview window. Checking this option will automatically playback the

preview clip in the preview window, whereas unchecking it will start the preview in

pause mode.



4. Show Gridlines - this is a graphic interface option, which enables/disables gridlines

in the main window panels.



5. Hide audio/subpicture streams less than 1MB - this option, when selected,

hides small audio/subpicture streams that would otherwise clutter up the DVD

Shrink stream view.



6. Show overlapping titles combined - overlapping titles will be combined when

shown in DVD Shrink.









Press "OK" when you have finished setting up the DVD Shrink preferences.



3. Click on the "Open Files" button and load in the VIDEO_TS.IFO file of the DVD movie you

just ripped.

DVD Shrink - Open Files









4. DVD Shrink will now scan through your DVD and work out how much compression can be

achieved.









DVD Shrink - Analysing DVD









5. By default, DVD Shrink should select the "Full Disk" mode for you, which will keep all the

content on the DVD, but will shrink the contents so that it will fit onto a single DVD

recordable. This is the mode we want, so if it isn't selected, make sure you press the "Full

Disk" button.









DVD Shrink - Full Disk









6. Let's take a look at the various panels within DVD Shrink :

DVD Shrink - Views









7. The "Titles View" shows the structure of your DVD. Each DVD has three components :

Menus, Main Movie and Extras. Each component can have many titles (eg. Extras : trailers,

TV spots, documentaries ... are all separate titles). The file size, both before and after

shrinking/compression, is also shown.



To specify a single compression level for the entire DVD, click and highlight the "DVD" item.

Otherwise, you can click and highlight any particular component or title to change it's

compression level individually, which brings us to ...









DVD Shrink - Titles View









8. ... the "Stream View". This panel shows the various streams (eg. video, audio, subtitles) of

the currently selected DVD, component or title, as well as the compression level you define

for the currently selected DVD/component/title.

DVD Shrink - Stream View









DVD Shrink defines compression as "levels". A low level (level 1) will mean limited shrinking

(higher quality), while a high level will mean greater shrinking (at the expense of quality).

There are currently 10 levels (plus a "still" level for encoding still frames). Remember back

to when DVD Shrink scanned through all your files - DVD Shrink did this so it can predict the

file size each level will shrink to.



Our goal now is to select a compression level that will bring our DVD under the selected

target size. We would also need to ensure the picture quality is not too poor, and preferably,

that the main movie will be higher in quality than the extras.



9. The graphical size bar at the top shows the current size of the ripped DVD files. The green

part shows what will fit within your target size, while the red part obviously shows how

much is over the target size. As you can see from the screenshot below, our ripped files are

6578 MB in size, while our target size is only 4.38 GB. So basically, our goal is to shrink our

6578 MB DVD to under 4488 MB.







DVD Shrink - Size Bar









We can achieve our goal by setting the compression levels within the "Stream View", and

also by deselecting any unwanted streams (eg. removing the "Director's Commentary"

track, which could save some 400 MB in space). This is the part that I can really help you,

since each DVD is different. As an example, this is what I have done with the Ice Age

(Region 4) DVD to shrink it under 4.38GB :









o Menus : highest compression level (level 8 and 10)

o Main Movie : compression level 5, deselected "Directory's Commentary" audio track

o Extras : compression level 8 for long content, and level 9 for short content

DVD Shrink - Shrunk Sizes









Once the graphical size bar at the top turn completely green, it means that we have reached

our target size.



10. Now click on the "Backup!" button.









DVD Shrink - Backup









If the current predicted size of the shrunk DVD is larger than your target size, then you may

encounter the following screen :









DVD Shrink - Target DVD Size Exceeded









Even if you exceed the target size, you can still backup this DVD - since my shrunk DVD is

only 5 MB above the target size (actually target size of 4.38 GB minus my set error margin

of 30 MB), and within the margin of error, I will choose option 2 and backup this DVD to my

hard-drive.



11. We'll now select where to output the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files (Target Folder). You may

have to manually create a new directory to put all the newly DVD Shrink-ed files into. You

can change the "Target DVD Regions" to select which region the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files

will have (by default, all regions are selected to make a region-free backup). The "Provider

ID" allows you to set who produced this backup - add your name, your cat's name, whatever

...



Press "OK" when you are ready to start the shrinking process, which may take an hour,

maybe less.

DVD Shrink - Backup DVD









12. The encoding window will now show up with an estimated completion time. You can select

the "Enable Video Preview" option if you wish to see a preview of what's being re-encoded

currently. When DVD Shrink finishes, you can close DVD Shrink and move on to the next

sections, which deal with burning the DVD Shrink-ed DVD files.









DVD Shrink - Encoding









Step 3 : Creating an image of the DVD Shrink-ed DVD for burning



1. Note that the latest version of ImgTools, used in this step, has DVD burning capabilities, but

requires the commercial Nero Burning ROM to be installed. Because this guide promises to

be one that uses free tools whenever available, we'll not use ImgTools to burn the DVD, but

rather, we'll use it to make DVD image files after which we'll use DVD Decrypter to burn the

DVD.



2. Before we make an image, you should make sure the "discs" you've made are in fact

working properly. You can do this by using a software DVD player like the latest versions of

PowerDVD or WinDVD, both of which supports playback of DVD files from the hard-disk.

Only continue on if the disc is working perfectly, otherwise, go back to the step 3 and try to

figure out if you've missed copying a file or something similar. If there is something wrong

with playback, then this is most likely due to missing files - try copying the missing files to

the disc that doesn't play and try to find out what the exact problem is.



3. The .IMG image file produced will most likely be larger than 4 GB in size. Windows 98/Me

have problems with single files of larger than 4 GB, and so, it is essential that you do this

step under an operating system capable of handling large files (Windows 2000/XP). You can

by-pass this problem by burning the 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories without making an image

file, eg. by using the "DVD" recording profile under Nero Burning ROM (instructions are not

provided here, but it is very straight foward for anyone who has used Nero prior).

4. Start ImgTool. Press the "..." button and load in your 'disc1' and 'disc2' directories (eg. if

your backup VOB files are stored in f:\disc1\video_ts\, then load in f:\disc1).



From the "Drive" drop down box, select the first not used drive letter (on my computer,

drive i: is not used yet). Click on the "Make Drive" button, which will make a virtual drive

that will contain the contents of your 'disc1' or 'disc2' directory (think of this drive as a

"virtual DVD disc").









Prepare Drive









5. Now click on the "DVD Image" button. This should open a new window. Load in the "virtual

drive" you just created in the step above (again, drive i: on my computer) for the "DVD

Drive" entry. And then choose a location for the output file (make sure you have enough

free disk space) for the "Output Image File" entry. Last, choose a suitable label name for the

disc you will be creating.









Image Settings









6. Finally, check the "Create Disc Image" checkbox to start creating the image files (.img files).

This could take a while (and a lot of hard-disk space). After the image has been created,

press "Cancel" and click on the "Delete Drive" button to remove your virtual drive.









Step 4 : Burning the DVD using DVD Decrypter



1. We'll now burn the DVD image file(s). Insert a blank DVD disc in your DVD writer drive.

Start DVD Decrypter. From the "Mode" menu, select "ISO" -> "Write".









Selecting the ISO Write mode









2. Now use the icon to load in your .img image file. Make sure the "destination" selected is

your DVD recorder drive. Settings should be set to :



o Data Type : Mode1/2048

o Write Mode : DVD

o Write Speed : MAX









3. Now click on the large "Write" button to start the writing process. DVD Decrypter will now

write your image file(s) to your blank DVD.









Start the DVD writing by clicking on this button









4. We're done!!