DVD Shrink 3.1.4 Memory Usage

[MajinNinja]

Hi Guys,
Having a problem with DVD Shrink where during the encode stage it uses all my available memory (1Gb) and even fills the page file. I have tried using Recode 2 but have the same problem. When I used DVD2ONE 1.4 I didn't have any problems. Any idea's what may be causing it?

Cheers
MajinNinja

[tf]

Seems rather odd, I have 512mb ram and no problems whatsoever with either of the programs you mention. Perhaps your swapfile is too small? A good rule of thumb is a swapfile 1½ times the size of your memory.

-tf

[mrbass]

run http://www.memtest86.com on it (take about 20mins or so).

[bit-wise]

I too am on 512 megs with no issues.

Are you on Windows 2000 (you should be)? I've encountered some horrible memory issues with large 1+ gig files on Windows 95/98/Me.

This sounds close to a problem that was addressed several versions ago (its in the changelog somewhere), where it would start consuming all the page file as well. I'm going to sound like a broken record here, you are using the latest version?

[writersblock29]

@MajinNinja

DVD2ONE has been designed to use a bare minimum of your system's resources (I beleive their last version reduced the load it creates even further), so it doesn't surprise me that this program doesn't slam you. The latest Shrink also has the option to run at a lower priority, so that you have more resources free to multi-task. (I think this is set to "low" by default... but perhaps it's not on yours. Either way, you can check it when you click "Backup.") Recode 2 also has a priority selector intregrated into the program (default is "normal") which can also be tweaked.

If none of this yeilds any paths to take, then you may well want to download Mr. Bass's memory tester and give it a run. (Even though I make more money doing video work, my "profession" is testing memory modules -- you really don't want to know how many corners companies cut when trying to get that "bottom line" at the end of every quarter. Lots of people have crappy memory in their machines as the direct result.)

[bit-wise]

@writersblock29

Or CAS3 chips on a motherboard with CAS2 set and juuuust stable enough to only give you intermittent problems...

We got slammed with that in a few machines a few years ago.

[writersblock29]

@bit-wise

It's very true that he may be running things that are off-kelter. In the good ol' days (remember those?), all we had to worry about was clock speed if we were using SDRAM. 100's or 133. And you could run 100's in a 133 board, to boot (pardon the pun). Now, with DDR at the helm, the options have opened up -- big time. Just when you got excited about 266 speeds... we hit you with 333. Or 400's. There's also older motherboards that won't run 1 Gig DDR modules without a BIOS update. (Did I mention that 4 Gig modules are slowly entering the market?) Other, newer, models, give you headaches if you're not paying attention to what clock speed you're using. Add to that the popularity of over-clocking the processor.

All of the above is a supreme recipe for frustration... but then we add in the final ingredient: sub-standard components.

So, really, his only option is to start from the ground up. If tweaking his priority settings won't bear fruit, then he'd do good to check his RAM for problems. If he's over-clocking, of course, that would be where his system's clogging up. But if all other things are working as they should, it's got to be RAM related (okay, maybe "got" is a strong word -- but it's where I'd lay my money). Perhaps he's got several different modules of different speeds (266's with 333's, for example) trying to run together. I've seen that happen, too, when lots get mixed at work -- and the result is normally machine lockups. So long as as his BIOS recognises the properties of his modules and all the modules are similiar... there's probably some bad sectors in the DRAM components themselves -- which most memory testing programs will pinpoint. Then he can simply swap out his faulty memory module with a new one, and be able to throw anything he wants at his system without worry.

[dvdshrink]

There is a rare situation in which DVD Shrink will use up all available memory while encoding, and eventually crash. Seems like this is what happened here.

The situation occurs when DVD Shrink fails to remap a forward pointer address within a VOB file. So it keeps buffering data until that address can be remapped, which may never happen.

This can occur as a result of a badly authored DVD (the VOB files contain pointers to nowhere), or data corruption.

If the former, then the problem can probably be fixed by first ripping the DVD to your hard drive, then running IFOedit and fixing all the address pointers. I'm not sure exactly how this is done, but I've heard it is possible.

If the latter, then the problem will be intermittant, and caused by your hardware configuration. Most likely it is a result of over-aggressive memory timings in the BIOS, or overclocking, overheating, etc. DVD Shrink gives your system a real workout.