Step 1 – Prepare Your Folders

Prepare 2 new folders on your hard drive.

This is where your ripped files will be placed – let’s call it RIPPED
This is where the files output by DVD Shrink’s re-authoring will be placed – let’s call it DVD_SHRINK

Step 2 – Rip Your Original DVD

Rip DVD to hard drive (RIPPED) with DVD Decrypter using File mode (selecting all files).

Open DVD Shrink and click on Open Files. Navigate to RIPPED and click OK. DVD Shrink imports the files. You can now re-author in the usual way.

Note the Title number of the movie that you are re-authoring (e.g. Title 1)

Or, if you have the re-authored files on a DVD already, just copy them to the DVD_SHRINK folder using Windows Explorer.

Step 4 – Open the Original DVD in VobBlanker

The easiest way to do this, open VobBlanker and drag the folder RIPPED onto the main VobBlanker window. Or you can use VobBlanker’s Browse feature on its Input Folder box.

Now:

(i) Click on Skip All

(ii) Tick Use Input Folder

(iii) Untick Process Menus

Step 5 – VobBlanker set up

Locate the TitleSet that contains the movie that you have re-authored. In the above example, you can see it is VTS_01 (which is highlighted) because in the bottom pane is PGC 01 which is 01:39:06:01 (1 hour, 39 minutes, 6 seconds plus 1 frame) in length and is obviously the main movie (you can use this time as a cross check in DVD Shrink).

You can also check by the title number. As you can see, T in VMG is 01. This means it is Title 1 (as DVD Shrink would report it).

So click on Process for VTS_01_*.VOB

Now click on the main movie in the lower half of the VobBlanker screen.

Step 6 – Replace the movie with the re-authored one

Click on Replace on the right.

A dialogue box will appear asking you to Select IFO file. In the “Look in:” box, navigate to the DVD_SHRINK folder and select VTS_01_0.IFO

You will notice that VobBlanker now has the action Replace and shows you new information at top right about the size (in this example, I have re-authored out many chapters, so the size is much smaller).

Now, simply click PROCESS!! and go make coffee. In about 5 minutes or so, VobBlanker will have done its work and replaced the original title with your re-authored one. The menus will be intact.

Note if there are any errors. If so, save the log, close it, exit VobBlanker and restore your backup. To do this, simply copy all the files from the VobBlanker_backup folder (which is created for you) back to RIPPED.

Now would also be a good time to test in a software player.

Step 7 – Check and fix your audio and subtitle menus

Skip this step, if you have kept all audio and subtitle streams in your re-authored DVD.

Because DVD Shrink in re-author mode always does a “logical remapping of enabled streams”, it is probable that the buttons on the audio and subpicture menus now no longer function entirely correctly (unless you kept all streams).

To correct this:

Open your original DVD in PgcEdit (you can do this from the original DVD itself or you can do this before you replace the title in steps 4-6). Double click on the movie’s PGC and click Domain Stream Attributes. Take a note of the audio and subtitle stream numbers and positions.

In the above example, audio stream 0 is in English (en) and stream 1 is in Spanish (es). They are both AC3, 6 channel. The subtitle streams are also listed – note that there are 2 English streams – one is probably regular subtitles, the other is probably for the “hearing impaired” or it could be director’s comments subtitles – your subtitle menu will give you a clue about this.

Now, open your replaced DVD in RIPPED in PgcEdit and note what is there.

As you can see, we have stripped all languages except for English audio and the 2 English subtitles.

Locate and open (Ctrl-M) in PgcEdit, the audio selection menu and hide the buttons corresponding to the languages you did not keep. To do this:

(a) Click on the language that has been stripped (Spanish in this case) – the highlight will turn green.

(b) Click Edit to bring up the menu editor.

(c) Now check we have the right button (button 2 on the Edit button line) and click Hide Button à Jump to non-deleted button.

(d) Do this for all languages that you have stripped in the re-authoring of your DVD (you can stay in the Menu Editor and just increment the button number in the “Edit button” box)

(e) When you have finished hiding buttons, click OK to get out.

(f) Now, unless the kept streams correspond exactly to what they were in the first place, you will need to reprogram the menu buttons’ VM commands, so that each kept button corresponds to the correct stream. Because of the many complexities in how menus translate into actually selecting a particular stream – some set the stream directly, some set a register which eventually sets the stream, others jump to another PGC where an action is taken, and others just hop out to the post commands where, depending on what button is pushed, a particular action is taken – a tutorial on programming menu buttons goes beyond the scope of this guide.

Repeat step 3 for the subtitle selection menu.
When you have finished, close the menu viewer and save your DVD (Ctrl-S). PgcEdit will offer to save the new menu file and backup your old one (in case of errors, like hiding a button that you should have kept, you can just copy it back from the backup folder and start again!)

Step 8 – Reduce menu size with either MenuShrink or VobBlanker

Instructions for using MenuShrink are covered in the program and on its homepage. In general, MenuShrink and/or VobBlanker will enable you to shrink the menus to a size, where you do not need to re-shrink with DVD Shrink, particularly if you do not keep the menu’s audio.

Step 9 – Test in a software player and Burn

Always fully test in your software player and burn to a DVD±RW first!!

Questions and comments can be directed in the official DVD Shrink forum or in this thread at doom9.

Version 2 – Updated: 19 April 2005.