DVDshrink engine improvement possible?

[krackato]

Okay, I know hacking this to work with a different encoding engine is probably impossible, but I have to say that DVDShrink's interface really is fantastic. I would love for DVDShrink to use a superior encoding engine. Perhaps QuEnc or something similar. I was looking at DVDshrink comparisons here:

http://nerds.palmdrive.net/dvds_tmpgenc2.html

Fantastic way to compare by the way. But DVDshrink (version 3.0b5) really doesn't hold up too well. Which is sad cause the interface is excellent. I'm not really sure why the author wouldn't just change from transcoding to encoding (spoken like a guy who isn't a programmer). Okay, I know it's probably not easy at all so I'll stop making outrageous requests. I just wish I could use the DVDShrink interface and get excellent, CCE results. Then again, who doesn't.

[mrbass]

38 hours vs. 30mins ....well yeah go for it. Having done quite a few comparisons in the past I know it's easy to skew my results the way I wish (not saying I did but if I wanted to I could have). Remember dvdsrhink 1.3 (the old one) I can make look better than any transcoder easily by using honest results too.

[Kedirekin]

While I don't believe in still-analysis, and even less in magnifying stills to find artifacts, I do agree with their conclusions. Especially the part about making your own decision on what to use.

That said, from a technical standpoint, it isn't so easy to reconstruct a DVD using re-encoded assets. In fact it's downright nasty; the re-encoded assets have a completely different GOP structure - probably to the extent of having a different number of frames. Reconstructing a DVD is only a stone's throw away from authoring it. Even if DVDShrink hadn't stopped development, I doubt it would ever support encoding rather than transcoding.

I can't speak from experience, but DVD Rebuilder reconstructs a DVD by re-encoding the assets. I don't know how jdobbs does it. I'll have to give it a try one of these days (if only CCE didn't have such a penchant for mosquito noise). Anyway, if you want to re-encode your movies you might want to check it out.

[krackato]

Originally posted by mrbass
38 hours vs. 30mins ....well yeah go for it. Having done quite a few comparisons in the past I know it's easy to skew my results the way I wish (not saying I did but if I wanted to I could have). Remember dvdsrhink 1.3 (the old one) I can make look better than any transcoder easily by using honest results too.

38 hours vs. 30 minutes? Huh? I know doing a 5 pass Matrix 3 using DVD2DVDR took forever, but it was far, far less than 38 hours. And it's definetly the longest encoding I've ever done.

Anyway, I'm a quality whore. Instant Copy is probably my favorite tool at the moment because it's fairly straight forward, it's a single program, I can choose which elements to keep, which to drop, how much to compress the menu, and keep tinkering with it until I get the video quality on the main film to make it look excellent. But Instant Copy has some problems: undersizing, quality at lower compressions, inability to adjust credits, the way it removes titles can be unpredictable, and the previews take forever to load up. Honestly this is just a hobby. There's a part of me that's sad that these tools probably won't be perfected because Dual Layer burners are coming. I know it sounds weird. Still, I'd love for the DVDShrink interface to wrapped around a much more powerful encoder. Maybe DVD-Rebuilder will eventually become that. Or maybe I'll just get a Dual Layer burner and find something else to do.

[Lazza]

Originally posted by krackato
Or maybe I'll just get a Dual Layer burner and find something else to do.
Yeah just think on to maybe two years from now....

(Sat in rocking chair on porch drinking a cold beer)

"Hey, do you remember the old days before dual layer burners when we had to transcode and shrink stuff to fit on a disc?"

(Fade away from the sound of laughter..............)


Hehehe, it ain't that far away either is it really? :D

[mrbass]

Originally posted by krackato
38 hours vs. 30 minutes? Huh?

Just quoting from the article that's all. Ok I made the 30minutes up because he didn't state how long dvdshrink took him but most likely not longer than an hour. He did say he wasn't about to do 2pass VBR TMPGEnc as that'd take him 74 hours to do.

[Joergen]

I wouldnt bet on dual layer burners too much. Voices from taiwanese manufacturers are cynical about the reflectivity of the initial test batches (ie they're crap). But I suppose you will be able to buy a good dual layer disc for about 5-7 USD.. but unless you really want the DTS track and all extras or dont want to split the disc, thats too much for most.

And prices wont fall as quickly or as low as with single layer discs because batches will have a lower yield due to much higher quality constraints (greater number of discs will go to the trash so you're paying for 2-3 discs instead of one).