DvD Shrink created files have playback problems

[Elvis56]

It's been forever since i last posted something to this forum but this seems to be important enough to start posting again.

I recently started making Dvd+r backups and tried several tools. I liked dvdshrink best so i tried 10 or so movies. Everything went fine, i burned the files using the latest nero version using the dvd video preset.

I have 2 standalone dvd players, on one there were no playback problems whatsoever, the other one pauses playback every once in a while(doesn't seem to be random, same error at the same timecode most of the time). Some movies have more playback problems than others.

Then i started to search for the reason of these playback problems. Could be the media(I used 2.4 speed platinum), could be the burning software could be the transcoding software.

I couldn't check different media(hard to find that at 1 AM) so i tried to burn using recordnow. Same result, plays back fine on the first player, has playback problems on the other player.

Then i tried some different nero settings, using UDF/ISO and the xbox compatibility mode. Again the same result.

Then i transcoded a movie using dvd2one,burned using the UDF/ISO settings in nero and the resulting dvd+r played without stuttering on both my standalone players.

So to make a long story short, there seems to be a bug in the dvdshrink code. I can't exactly tell when/why there are playback problems, but it's not at every chapter stop, not every x minutes.

Technical details:
Nec 4 DVD+RW ND 1100A burner
Platinum 2,4 speed media
Cheap dvd player #1 provision(no playback problems)
Cheap dvd player #2 Slimline Mustek 56 clone(playback problems with the dvdshrink discs)

Update: One thing i forgot to mention, i tried ripping directly from dvd and dvd files from harddrive

[neopholus]

Hi Elvis56,

I had the same problem: used DVDShrink to backup a DVD (Movie only). Worked fine, no problems. Then I tried to playback the DVD.

- WinDVD 3: Video is sometimes stuttering, it looks like a single frame is missing. Errors are reproduceable at the same timecodes.
- WinDVD 4: Playback is ok.
- Thomson 5200: Playback is stuttering sometimes just like using WinDVD 3. The stutters are always at the same timecodes, i.e. WinDVD3 and my Thomson show exactly the same playback errors at the same timecodes.
- CAT 933: Plays the disc perfectly.

Tried several Media (+R, +RW), tried to use DVDDecryptor+IfoEdit to remove extras and afterwards DVDShrink to copy the full (modified) DVD. Always the same: the main movie is stuttering. I think, the stutters are even always at the same timecodes even when using DVDDec.+IfoEdit before using DVDShrink.

Any Ideas?

Cheers,

neopholus

[dvdshrink]

Hi,

I wonder if its a buffer underflow/overflow problem?

DVD Shrink compresses the video and thus reduces its bitrate, but it doesn't change any of the bitrate values in the mpeg headers which it probably should do.

[neopholus]

Hi dvdshrink!

Your program is really a great tool!
If I can help you finding the problem, just say what you need. If you give the header-modification a try, I can test it using the same DVD again, so I can tell you, if it really fixes the problem.

Cheers,

neopholus

[dvdshrink]

Thanks, that would be very useful.

Can you send me a mail so I can send you a test version attached? It will be tomorrow sometime because I've had it for today with multi-angle problems :(

[Elvis56]

Ah good, the man himself. It seems to be a serious bug. I am pretty sure it has got something to do with the ifo files dvdshrink creates when you remove an audio and/or video stream.

I hope you will be able to fix the problem, keep up the good work!

[daxab]

Have you tried recreating the IFO files using IFOEdit after running DVD Shrink?

[neopholus]

Hi dvdshrink,

you have mail!

Cheers,

neopholus

[timmmay]

first post and I wanna say great job dvdshrink!!:)

[Tatjahna]

I have the same problem here..

Tried to backup 2 movies, one using the re-encode mode (full backup), the other using the re-author and re-encode mode (movie only) .. 1st titleset is for the movie, the 2nd is the menu (not functionnal, I know)

While importing theses 2 projects in Gear DVD, I have sectors that are already occupied, so I tried to correct them into IfoEdit... IfoEdit is always freezing when trying that...

I dunno what to do really... :(

Any clues?

[mrbass]

Are you guys cropping or not? Or is that irrelevant. I thought some stated they had problems when cropping.

[mpucoder]

There's this word that keeps cropping up - to movie/video people "crop" means to remove a portion of the frame, resulting in a different frame dimension. To remove frames, scenes, sequences, etc is to cut or drop. It's very confusing when you start using the wrong word.

[mrbass]

I apologize. Just using the word 'crop' as it says in DVDShrink
http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/05dvdshrink.png

I agree it should be changed to CUT or REMOVE perhaps.

[mpucoder]

I know, I saw it in the program as well, and meant to mention it to the author. Plus "crop" is appearing in IfoEdit posts. The thing is, I get thinking in the wrong direction until I realize it isn't crop they mean, but cut/drop/remove/strip.
But, my comment wasn't directed at anyone in particular, just the third thread I had read about "cropping" in one sit-down.

Has anyone tried running IfoEdit or IfoUpdate on these problem DVDs to see if Get_VTS_Sectors corrects anything?
I do know version 1.04 fixes a problem with angles/seamless branching, I'm not sure if this is related.

[Tatjahna]

On my side, I didn't do any cropping to my movies.. I only removed unnecessary language and subtitles and did some Custom Level encoding..

But anyway, forget that, I have solved the problem trying to burn the project in Nero Burning Rom instead of Gear DVD Pro 6 ...

I think (and I am really not sure of that) that Gear DVD doesn't like the fact that there is not any VIDEO_TS.VOB file in the DVD Shrink project. :confused:

I have tried to use IfoUpdate instead of IfoEdit to correct the VTSSectors, and the proggy didn't freeze, but still got errors in Gear DVD...

[Gunhed]

Hi there

I have also problems with DVDShrink, the NEC 1100A with Firmware 1.A0 and a Mustek 56S DVD-Player. (all PAL)
I used cheap 2.4x Ultron DVD+R media.

I tried to backup "Road to Perdition" with the "Movie only" option.

If I play the DVD+R in the Mustek sometimes the picture becomes blocky and then the scene is looping. So the scene is playing for 3 seconds and then skips 3 seconds back playing it again and skips back and so on...
But if I skip to the next chapter and then back, the problem is gone.

In my computer with PowerDVD, there is no problem at all...

I also have old Movie backups made with DVD2DVD-R and some made with DVD2One...with them, no problems in the Mustek.

for your interest... :D

[herrde]

Same thing here :(

Did a backup of Minority Report (RC 2) using DVD Shrink 1.03 which plays fine on my Panasonic SC-HT70 but has stutters and loops every few minutes on a Mustek. I haven't thought this could be related to DVD Shrink if it wasn't for this thread.

DVD Shrink is a cool piece of software though, and I sincerely hope this problem can be resolved!

Regs

Gero

[Elvis56]

Glad to see i'm not the only one who has problems with the dvd shrink created files. Let's hope the bugs can be ironed out soon. In another thread i read the dvd shrink author is aware of the problem.

[mikewillnot]

I think I'm having the same problem. Every shrink I've done so far works fine on the PC, but fails on the standalone -- the player doesn't recognize that there's a disc (DVD) at all. I've gotten GOOD results, though, with other movies using the same media, same standalone, same burner, same burning software, same settings, etc, with filesets that have NOT been run through the shrinker. There's something off with the filesets that DVDS produces, I suspect. Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone know what? I was thinking I'd try deleting all but the main VOB's and having IFOedit create new IFOs, and see if that works. I'll let you know.

[tgferg67]

I'm also having playback problems with DVDShrink
DVDShrink processed movies don't playback in my software player(WinDVD) or my toshiba stand alone however they do play in my Playstation 2.

I think DVDShrink is making bad IFO files because if I run the DVDShrink processed movie through DVDToolbox I get a movie that is playable in my software player and any stand alone I put it in.
DVDToolbox fixes the messed up DVDShrink IFO files.

[Dobbin44]

Thank god for that, I thought I had a bad batch of discs.
Same thing has happened to me with several titles.
Looks like I'll have to reburn

[Toona]

first of all thanks to DVDShrink!! I am a newb and DVD shrink got me started in this DVD backup stuff. since I downloaded it and started burning away on my Sony DRU 500A I've been learning alot. But ... I too ran into problems with blips and skips so I moved on to DVD2one to see if the problem was software or media ect... and I'm playin with DVD2one now and that seemed to fix my problem. I've burned ehh 30 disks so far and only two turned out bad and that was a media problem . They were Optodisks I bought while I was in Japan like 10 for 1000yen which is a little more than $8 USD. anyways I hope the problem can be fixed cause the software is so easy to use and it would be great to go back to it. Just wanted to say thanks and thanks goes out to Doom9 also for the awesome site so full of info. I've done nothin but read forums for like 3 weeks now so keep it up guys!!

[switherman]

Has anyone been able to find a workaround for this issue? I have a couple of movies that I would like to clean up. Saw a reference above to DVDToolbox but not sure if it was working for others.

[vidkid123]

I am deeply depressed. I got so excited like everyone else with DVD Shrink. I successfully backed up Sopranos Season 1 Disc 1 using Level 1 compression and left out the menus. I did the same with Toy Story using Level 0 (I figured out on my second backup that I didn't need to transcode if it already fit - duh.) Sadly, I'm getting the blockiness and stuttering motion described in this thread when trying to burn Sopranos Season 1 Disc 3 using Level 0 or Level 1 compression. I haven't a clue why it works on the other discs and not this one. I don't have the time to have to backup to a DVD+RW each time just to see if the DVD is 'compatible' with DVD Shrink. So until it becomes more reliable I'll have to use something else.

With all the talk about this product, I'm suprised this thread isn't getting more attention. Seems like it has kind of stalled with no solution in sight.

[Tatjahna]

Maybe the time is missing for DVDShrink, I could understand... But it's clear that we need some follow-up from him!

DVDShrink ... Are you there? :D Still on this project? Let us know please! :D

Keep up the good work!

[cyberdyne]

Hi,

I have got the same playback problems as mentioned above, unfortunately there arent any good news, so I guess the only "workaround" is to not use dvdshrink?

Cheers,
Cyberdyne.

[SiliconSoul]

has this problem been fixed in the new version?

[Kedirekin]

I've seen a couple of more recent threads (recent as in the past 3 months) where people say they're seeing pauses similar to layer breaks at multiple places in a DVD backup. I don't know if it's the same problem, but it sounds similar.

On the other hand, there are dozens - perhaps hundreds - of people here who use DVDShrink on a regular basis without issue (as evidenced by the rarity of similar posts).

It's hard to state definitively if the issue has been fixed, unless someone who was experiencing the issue a year ago re-tests with the new version.

You might want to check the digital digest forums (http://forum.digital-digest.com/ (http://forum.digital-digest.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=48)). I believe that's the semi-official DVDShrink support forum.

[SiliconSoul]

okay thx

[ibilisi]

Hello-

I still have this problem running with the following:

Dvdshrink 3.1.4
Nero 6.0.3
My ripping drive is a liteon and I burn with a DRU500a
My media is Ritek G02.

I just backed up Down with love. Have the jumps at the end ~1:34.
I've also had problem with my 28 days later.

Both of these movies I have cropped/cut slightly. I will try them again and post if I find anything.

I play these back on a htpc with a pioneer dvd-106s.

They play fine on my other DVD-ROM drives.

[dvdshrink]

@Elvis56

Did any of these playback problems go away with later versions of DVD Shrink? There was an issue which was fixed after version 3.1.2. If the problem is still there, and is definitely not media related, then I'll continue to investigate.

Generally I can only fix bugs if I can replicate the exact set of circumstances which cause them on my own machine. This is getting harder and harder these days, since only really obscure bugs remain. Note I can be contacted by email (check my profile) which may be more productive in these cases.

[cereal killa]

Is this already fixed in a recent version? I had this problem with fight club with v3.1.3, gets really choppy at the end. I did cut at the beginning and end.

[dvdshrink]

There are no problems that I am aware of.

From time to time there are reports on the forums, which I try and track down. This thread wasn't very productive!

A lot of corrupted video problems are caused by the target media, not by DVD Shrink. Try a different media?

[SiliconSoul]

id say if it only happens at the end then it is a media issue. if it is happening at specific point with different media its a problem.

[maroulios]

hallo there ! and congratulations for the good job you are doing here (its my first post)! i experience a similar problem ,i use dvdshrink 2.2 to shrink my dvd ,then i use ifoedit to (get vts sectors) then dvddecrypter to burn the dvd! my problem is that the very first days the disks seem to be working well in my standalone player but when i tried to playback them (again in the standalone player) few days later they stutter every few secs! i had decided that there was a problem with my disks (even though i've used well known brands like verbatin, tdk, skc ) but now that i read this thread i wonder if it's the dvdshrink 2.2 that caused the problems! if it is so i will download the newer version but if it isnt what do you suggest me to do? please enlighten me and thanks for your time!

[Makira]

dvdshrink: just a quick question about the problems, did you implement a program stream - system target decoder (ps-std) as specified in 13818-1 and 13818-2 (vbv buffer) ?

I had a similar problem with DVDRemaster and this fixed it. Constraints on the modules comes from this buffer verifier.

Hope this helps.

[dvdshrink]

@maroulios
If your backups worked at first, it does seem like a media problem. I'd recommend you update to latest version anyway. Lots of bugs have been fixed since version 2.2.

@Makira
I don't implement a p-std because DVD Shrink doesn't multiplex as such, the streams are already (hopefully correctly) multiplexed by the original encoder. However DVD Shrink does take care when modifying the streams to honour the constraints of the original encoder.

[maroulios]

@dvdshrink thanks for your immediate responce! i will update to the latest version as you suggest but what is a media problem (sorry for the stupid question but i am quite new to this subject) do you mean that my player has the problem? thanks anyway!

[dvdshrink]

It could be caused by poor quality media (disc). Or it could be that your player doesn't like the particular brand of media you are using. It could be that you set the burn speed too high: try burning the same media at 1x.

[Makira]

@dvdshrink
I do not multiplex streams either, but this is the only way I found to replace the m2v stream without over/underflowing. If you can get your hands on philips dvd video verifier (http://www.licensing.philips.com/ordering/soft/documents305.html), you could check the buffer fullness, and a bunch of other things also.

perhaps it's just a media problem, so don't mind what I just said

[maroulios]

@dvd shrink i'll try that too! thanks for your advice keep up with the good job