Combining DVD-RB with Shrink: how and why?

[raddygast]

I have read that a number of people use DVD-Shrink's friendly features to do a sort of pre-processing on a DVD before allowing DVD-RB and CCE to take over. I understand the theory -- use DVD Shrink, strip some things out, re-author if you want to (I prefer not to, to keep menus etc), and do things like use still frames for extras you want to blank out, studio logos etc. You can also set custom compression on certain elements, like for example extras you want to keep but don't care much about quality (i.e. you can compress these at 50% or so).

But my question is, once you output to a new pre-processed directory, how do you tell DVD-RB *not* to re-encode the stuff that's already been heavily compressed or modified? I am worried that if I tell Shrink to compress the menus by 50%, then DVD-RB will still send off that compressed menu to CCE which will then re-encode it at a lower bitrate?

Or is DVD-RB smart enough not to mess with compressed files?

[lamster]

Originally posted by raddygast
You can also set custom compression on certain elements, like for example extras you want to keep but don't care much about quality (i.e. you can compress these at 50% or so).
Note that DVD-RB has a "Half D1 and Half Space for Extras" option.

But my question is, once you output to a new pre-processed directory, how do you tell DVD-RB *not* to re-encode the stuff that's already been heavily compressed or modified?
A couple of possible approaches might be to use RB-Opt, or to set the threshold at which DVD-RB will consider processing a video set high enough so that the stuff you've already processed gets ignored.

Note that the only way I've ever used Shrink in conjunction with DVD-RB is if something has large menus, I use Shrink to shrink down the size of the menus (not touching anything else). I then run the Shrink output through DVD-RB, which I use to do all other processing (including stripping unwanted streams). (I've never run into a problem doing this, but I also keep in mind that jdobbs doesn't want to hear about problems if the DVD-RB source has been preprocessed.)

[raddygast]

The problem is I am having trouble understanding how to set up RB-Opt and for that matter how to use DVD-RB in general. I can get it to re-encode a whole DVD but don't know how to get rid of specific bits and pieces (aside from audio streams and so forth, and entire titlesets).

With DVD Shrink I can for example make certain extras just go away (I use the option that replaces a whole video with a still frame repeated over and over again, which effectively nullifies the space taken up by the video). I understand these options are necessary so that the file structure remains intact and every video that is supposed to have a certain length maintains that length (otherwise, I guess it screws up the menu structure?)

If we could do that in RB I guess that'd be cool, but since Shrink does it anyway I suppose it's not necessary. And am I right in guessing from your reply that DVD-RB does not touch menus, so that Shrink is necessary to chop them down (or some other tool)?

Does RB-Opt have an option for totally blanking out a specific extra?

[raddygast]

And I'm not sure I understand what you said about thresholds. What would I be telling DVD-RB --- not to re-encode anything that has an average bit rate below a certain amount? And where would this be set, in RB-Opt or is there some built-in setting for it?

[jdobbs]

Right now DVD-RB leaves menus intact. So if you compressed them with Shrink beforehand there is no danger of DVD-RB compressing them again. Just just a forewarning... menu compression will be implemented in the DVD-RB Pro package in the not too distant future, so plan for it.

As for the threshold... right now DVD-RB has a default threshold that is used to decide what VTSs should be processed. The reasoning is that if a VTS is under a certain size, the recovered space is so insignificant that there is no value to recompressing, so DVD-RB keeps it pristine in the backup. The threshold is set to about 50MB.

There is a "hidden" parameter that can be added to the REBUILDER.INI file that allows you to change the threshold. Changing it is not usually recommended, and leaving it changed is definitely not. But, occasionally there are DVDs that come along that have many VTSs all of which are small, but as a whole become significant. In that case this threshold variable can be used to make sure they are compressed as well.

You've just reminded me that I really need to get off my butt and write a User's Guide for DVD-RB. Version 1.00 is coming and I need to get it done before then.

Look at the Stickys at the top of the DVD Rebuilder forum here and you'll see a thread that outlines the DVD-RB settings, including the theshold.

[nburles]

@jdobbs

Great news that Pro will soon have menu compression!

Only the addition of a CCE server farm option could make this program any better than it is! (I haven't ever had a problem backing up a DVD)

Thanks for all the work

NBurles