DVDShrink doesn't starts!

[Skrycchio]

What a bad notice!

When I double click on the executable (3.0 beta 5), nothing doesn't happen!

No errors, no advices, NOTHING.

I've examined with FileMonitor, since double click, and you'll find it at this address:

http://80.181.191.21/filemon.txt

Same thing with the 2.x version.
I use Win98SE, DX 9.0b, 512Mb ram, Xp2800.

Never had other problems with SW.

What's the problem?
Thanks

[ddlooping]

Hi Skrycchio. :)

Do you have ASPI installed (it's required by DVD Shrink)?
If not, here is a link to "Force ASPI" download, with easy installation.
http://radified.com/ASPI/forceaspi.htm

[Skrycchio]

I've the aspi installed, because any other ripping-SW works fine.

Thanks.

[ddlooping]

Then, this could be the cause of your problem (originally written by dvdshrink, the developer):
Win98/2000 problems
I think most of these problems are related to fact that DVD Shrink is compiled with Microsoft Visual C++ .NET version. I may go back to using Visual C++ 6.0 (which was used to compile DVD Shrink 1.03). DVD Shrink does require ASPI drivers (wnaspi32.dll) installed if running on Win95/98.

[Skrycchio]

> I think most of these problems are related to
> fact that DVD Shrink is compiled with > Microsoft Visual C++ .NET version.
> I may go back to using Visual C++ 6.0 (which
> was used to compile DVD Shrink 1.03).
> DVD Shrink does require ASPI drivers
> (wnaspi32.dll) installed if running
> on Win95/98.

I've latest Aspi drivers (4.71.2).
Do you think I MUST install 4.60?

I need the 4.71.2 in order to turn on/off the CDRW SCSI while the PC is turned on: with previous release my PC goes in crash.

Thank again.
Salvo

[Skrycchio]

> I think most of these problems are related to
> fact that DVD Shrink is compiled with
> Microsoft Visual C++ .NET version.
> I may go back to using Visual C++ 6.0 (which
> was used to compile DVD Shrink 1.03).


Infact, using the 1,03 version, the SW starts.

What I can do to let start the version compiled with Microsoft Visual C++ .NET version???

Thanks.

[ddlooping]

Do you think I MUST install 4.60?
No Skrycchio, I wouldn't think so. :)
What I can do to let start the version compiled with Microsoft Visual C++ .NET version???
You could try installing "Microsoft .NET Framework" (via Windows update), but to be honest I don't know if the two are related, and/or if it would make any difference.

[Skrycchio]

> You could try installing "Microsoft
> NET Framework" (via Windows update)

I've the system full update, via windows update.
No other patch are needed (says W-update...).

You've right, because the 1.03 works very fine (just tried, my best compliments), and I'd to try the 2.xx or 3.xx version.

I'm searching for a similar SW that transcode the various titles with different ratio.
DVDShrink is the only that I know, but I think that is the top.

Any idea for future, for example try to compile even in the previous compiler?

Thanks again for your patience.

Ps: I don't post in other forum, because I've understud that you are present in each. ;)

Skrycchio - Salvo

[ddlooping]

DVDShrink is the only that I know, but I think that is the top.

Any idea for future, for example try to compile even in the previous compiler?
Thanks for the positive feedback, Salvo. :)
The quote from dvdshrink was taken from the following thread.
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25207
You can see he's thinking of doing exactly that. ;)
Thanks again for your patience.
Ps: I don't post in other forum, because I've understud that you are present in each. ;)
You're welcome. :)
I try to help in a few forums, but these are the official DVD Shrink ones:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=48
That's where you'll find me most of the time, as I'm also the moderator there. ;)

[m99]

I has the same problem with DVDShrink. Hope the author goes back to VC ;-)

[Skrycchio]

Ok.
I WAS SURE that my system was update, but... not really!

Well, there's anything in my windows that not allow the installing of .NET FW.

I WAS sure that was installed because windows update doesn't tell me anything about.

Downloading the redistributable version of .NET FW, I cannot install it!
After the start of installation give me an error:

"Error 1304.Error writing to file: Microsoft.Vsa.dll. Verify that you have access to that directory" (maybe correct, in English)

Normally I've not any "Microsoft.Vsa.dll" in my system, except for:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\Microsoft.Vsa.dll
C:\WINDOWS\assembly\tmp\CJPW29FM\Microsoft.Vsa.dll

...created by installation.
During installation I've checked the attributes of those files, and they are +A (not +RSH).

The installer ask me RETRY or CANCEL.

If I click RETRY it tell me:
"Internal error 2350"
then exit.

The 2 files "Microsoft.Vsa.dll" and directories disappears.

What's the REALLY problem?
I'm searching on the MS site, too.

Ciao
Salvo

[ddlooping]

What's the REALLY problem?
Salvo, I have absolutely no idea.

[Skrycchio]

No problems.

If I reach a solution, I'll post it in this thread.

I've seen many guys with same error...
http://www.google.it/groups?as_q=Error%201304.Error%20writing%20to%20file%3A%20Microsoft.Vsa.dll&ie=ISO-8859-1&lr=&hl=it

Ciao
Salvo

[ddlooping]

Originally posted by Skrycchio
[B]If I reach a solution, I'll post it in this thread.
Thanks, that'd be appreciated. :)

[m99]

Any news?

[ddlooping]

Hi m99. :)

Have you tried v3.1 yet? It came out yesterday and was tested on Win98SE by dvdshrink himself? ;)

Mind you, v3.2 is coming out tomorrow, so you might as well wait. :D

[m99]

re: ddlooping

Yes :-(

[ddlooping]

Sorry to hear that, m99. :(

What exactly happen when you try and start DVD Shrink?
Could you please give us as many details as possible about your system?

- Operating system - service pack.
- DVD drives.
- Hard drive capacity.
- Your graphic card.
- The amount of RAM installed.
- Softwares installed (mainly burning/DVD authoring/DVD backup ones).

Also let us know if all your drivers are up-to-date (mainly your graphic card ones).

[m99]

re: ddlooping

As with topic-starter, nothing happens.
I use WinME with 98Lite, IE and a lot of others useless things is removed. Hardware and drivers is OK, DirectX is ver. 7.1.
I tried to decompress DVDShrink with UPX to see what libraries it used, but UPX said it wasn't compressed???
What libraries does DVDShrink use?

[ddlooping]

m99, please download v3.1.1 and try to see if it works. ;)
Links available on the following page:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=137570#post137570

P.S: do you have any Roxio or Pinnacle softwares installed?

[m99]

:-(

DVDShrink has been like this since ver. 2.2, if I remeber correct.

I have only Nero installed, and there was no difference if I removed it.

I think I'm missing some libraries, but which?

[ddlooping]

Have you tried v3.1.1 then?
It was released a few hours ago.

[m99]

Originally posted by ddlooping
Have you tried v3.1.1 then?
It was released a few hours ago.

Yes, tried it after your previous message, thats the :-( ;-)

[ddlooping]

I'm affraid I can only suggest you look at the following page and see if it helps.
DVD Shrink processes (http://www.dvdshrink.info/processes.php)

[m99]

OK, thx for the help, even if we didn't succeeded.

I had all those files in the System-folder.


Does anyone now if DVDShrink is UPX-packed? There is a string inside the file that says UPX 1.24, but I can't unpack it.

[ddlooping]

"OK, thx for the help, even if we didn't succeeded."
No problem. ;)

"Does anyone now if DVDShrink is UPX-packed?"
I for one do not know.

[m99]

"DVD Shrink 3.1.exe" is UPX-compressed and scrambled so that it can't be decompressed, if a pal of my is correct. Is there any chance for a not-compressed version?

[QueenMaro]

Dear m99, dear members,

I had the same problem: DVDShrink 3.x seems to use IE-Explorer style controls
to get a more "stylish" look (indeed the old look was fine for me :) But
exactly these are not available if IE (win98lite,win95) is not installed...

First I tried to reach the author via some forum entries -- no response

Then I tried to edit the binary e.g. see the calls to explorer.exe or
shell32.dll which cause the trouble -- no chance as the binary is encrypted

So the only thing left was "temporarily" switch back to an installation with
IE and do DVDShrinking there. This can be done by exchanging explorer.exe
and shell32.dll with the "original" (win98) ones. Additionally one has to
add some IE-specific parts to the registry. I wrote some batch programs
which do exactly these jobs (~5sec) but still a reboot is needed.

You can contact me for further details

cu
Queen

[ddlooping]

Welcome to the forums, QueenMaro, and thanks for the info. :)

"DVD Shrink 3.1.exe is UPX-compressed and scrambled so that it can't be decompressed, if a pal of my is correct. Is there any chance for a not-compressed version?"

Nope, no chance whatsoever I'm affraid.

I'd suggest you visit the official DVD Shrink forums and try your luck there. ;)

http://forum.digital-digest.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=48

[ptolemy]

Getting back to the question that started this thread, I have the same behaviour from DVD Shrink - i.e. it does not start at all, just silently does nothing. And yet I think it's really neat, because I can start and use version 2.3 under wine.

The setup is: I have an old (as in slow, with 350M RAM and perfectly adequate for word processing and spreadsheets box) running Windows NT4, SP6a with as little as possible installed - no games and no DVD display for example. This runs DVD Decrypt flawlessly (also really neat), and has a NEC ND1300 drive, though I burn DVD's under Linux to be on the safe side. So maybe not a typical PC. Note that since DVD Decrypt runs, I'm very happy with file to file shrinking, and don't need Shrink to worry about burners, display or readers.

Both version 2 or version 3 (up to 3.1.6) of DVD Shrink behave the same - no error message, nothing at all, just silently don't start, so I checked them out with "depends" and "filemon", after a few sessions of registry cleaning and installing, with and without Nero and the various DLL's and ASPI versions so far mentioned in this thread.

The first thing I notice with "depends", is that the DLL's required seems to be encrypted (or looks scrambled in any case), unlike for version 1. So that didn't help much.

filemon is interesting - you see DVD Shrink and the system requesting various DLL's, trying the sequence of defined places, finding them (fail, fail, OK got it) and moving to the next one. To test things out I even renamed one and sure enough got a nice alarm from filemon. But what DVD Shrink seems to do is, having found everything it wants up until winspool.drv, it silently decides it doesn't think it's a good idea to start, closes all the files and terminates normally.

First question is, is there a log file - or can one be enabled - to say why it didn't think starting was a good idea, maybe just on my system?

Second question is of course, anyone have an idea what's going on here?

[m99]

re: ptolemy

This may help you.
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?threadid=33304

[ptolemy]

Thanks m99 - I explored this with the lite version after reading the other forum, but it doesn't change things. Remember NT doesn't have much in common with 95/98. I notice that for both versions of DVD Shrink the last file reported by filemon as opened and closed is winspool.drv - that is the silent and normal program termination might be triggered by something seen here.

So that's maybe eliminated one possibility - but thanks again.

[m99]

The reason we had to this is because DVDShrink don't work with old versions of Shell32.dll and Comdlg32.dll. Do you have the latest versions of those two you can have with WinNT4?
If I remember correctly I got the same results from filemon.

[ptolemy]

I think I've found the problem - but not alas a solution. My NT4 is nicely up to date so it wasn't that. I recalled that a player - Zoomplayer - has exactly the same behaviour, and in a forum I just read that it is due to request for functions in DirectX. This is plausible, as NT4 never got above version 3 of DirectX.

While DirectX is probably central to Zoomplayer (though e.g. VLC sticks to earlier functions), I am guessing that DVDShrink, maybe unwittingly, used newer DirectX functionality for the mini-display or such. Out of curiosity it would be nice to know, but I guess Linux is the way to go anyway (or I might one day install the bought and paid for Win2K which I left in a box on the ain't broke don't fix principle).

[ddlooping]

ptolemy, if the problem is indeed DirectX, you could try changing DVD Shrink video renderer.
Obviously you will have to do it in the registry.

Search for:

HKEY_USERS\{..........}\Software\DVD Shrink\DVD Shrink 3.1\Preferences

Try changing:

VideoPreview to "0" (no preview).


And/or:

DirectXVideoRenderer to "3" (System Default Renderer) or "2" (Overlay Mixer).

[ptolemy]

Thanks ddlooping. I tried this, but it had no effect. I don't think the program even gets to the point where it uses the registry, because there is no change to the registry (e.g. default values) from the situation after install but before first run - that is, an undefined (Default) and a correct HelpPath.

[ddlooping]

Sorry to hear this didn't work, ptolemy, I'm affraid I have nothing else to suggest.