When to use Shrink and when to use CCE

[JediSthlm]

Howdy ya'll

I using both Shrink and CCE (DVD2DVD-R) and both programs works great. I would like to hear if anyone use the same programs or similar. I use Shrink when do not need to transcode the movie at all or not much. If it is a longer movie I usually throw it at DVD2DVD-R.
I just wonder when you guys start using CCE instead of Shrink. Do look for minutes or MB?

Thanx,

[xistan]

Some movies you just cant deal with using DVDShrink, since the minimum compression offered are simply not enough. This is a quite rare situation though. In this case CCE is a good solution.

Otherwise I usually let DVDShrink do its job one time. I am always doing a deep analysis first (can be scary results if you don't), and then a backup. Then I try to look at the results on the PC at some critical scenes (intensive action, quick panning, grey or B&W or intensive color gradients). If it is satisfactory I usually go with it. No need for the extra job using CCE.

If the results are not good enough (which happens quite often) I go ahead with CCE.

To put it short: I don't look at time or size. Quality is what matters, and since DVDShrink is so fast compared to CCE multipass, it is worth adding that extra step to the process.

Usually I do full-disk backups using DIF4U etc. I guess for movie-only backups, DVDShrink should be good enough in most of the cases unless you have very high definition viewing equipment.

/C

[JediSthlm]

thanks for reply, it would be nice to see how other thinks when comes to using different programs for different movies.

[windtrader]

My current guidelines are:

These are for movies I care about maintaining quality

Movie only < 4.7gb - Use DVDShrink, no compression
Movie between 4.7 and 5.3; use DVDShrink, no deep analysis
Movie between 5.3 and 6.3; use DVDShrink, deep analysis turned on
Movie greater than 6.3; Use DVD2DVD (CCE VBR 3pass)

If I want the extras I strip these seperately, compress them down to 50-60%, and store them to an extras HD area.

[Imperial Zeppelin]

My normal rule of thumb is...

No compression needed: DVDDecrypter

No compression for movie only: DVD2ONE, DVDSHRINK or InstantCopy

Movies less than 2 hours with compression needed: Any of the above one touch programs depending on my mood.

Movies between 2 and 2.5 hours with compresion needed: InstantCopy to DVD-RW and check out on my 51" Widescreen TV to see if I can live with it, if not DVD2DVD-R using CCE, etc.

Movies over 2.5 hours: Go right to CCE, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

But these are rules of thumb. For example, the first season of Xena had horrible quality on the original DVDs; it looked like a bad compression, something that had I done I with a one click solution, I would have redone with CCE. These DVDs contained over 8 GB of data and demanded CCE treatment since any loss was unacceptable. Season two just came out and the originals were fine; so much so that I used InstantCopy and got results that were "passing" in my opinion, and vastly superior to the quality of the season one original DVDs.

My $0.02...

Zep

[Therion]

For compression level of below 75% I use CCE, no matter what length the movie is.

[ddlooping]

"For compression level of below 75% I use CCE, no matter what length the movie is."

That's my rule of thumb too. :)
There are a few exceptions though, for example doing a backup of poorly recorded TV programs, in which case I don't mind using Le Shrink with a higher level of compression (65%-70%). ;)

[monomer]

Gradually over the last few months, my standard for when to switch-over to CCE has been migrating to lower levels of compression (meaning a higher %)... anymore I begin considering using CCE for compressions levels of 87% or greater (meaning a lower % number), even though I can't yet detect any compression artifacts at that level. Its kinda like an insurance policy. I'm afraid that when the day comes for me to up-grade my display system, the artifacts I could not see before will now come to haunt me. Just because I can't see them now does not mean they are not there... and I may yet see them someday. I suggest you might consider this too.

BTW, my display set-up includes a front LCD projector with panels fixed at a 856x480 DVD resolution... projecting onto a 10-foot wide screen. Viewing distances are typically ~11-12feet away. I do plan on one day stepping up in resolution, maybe even a CRT projector system. I don't want to be dissappointed with all my back-up copies and have to re-do them again.

Just something to think about...