MenuShrink ver 1.0 - utility for shrinking DVD motion menus to still frames

[chandra]

Originally posted by blutach


If anyone wants the users manual in word form tonight, please email me.

I urge readers to upgrade in the next week, when the guide is out and integrated into MenuShrink.

Regards

Hi blutach
Maybe I misunderstood but, if what you need is readers that translate the manual in other languages you're welcome to contact me. I could translate it in italian if needed (and of course if the original is not in chinese )
Bye

[blutach]

Very kind chandra - I will let jeanl know, although already most of the app is user manual. It may be a download for the home page.

Regards

[rahzel]

you know how some movies have like trailers etc in the menu section? will menushrink make those still images too or just the menus?

also, how exactly does it work? if theres like a video in the menu, will it just take a still image of the video and keep the menu options there?

[blutach]

Yes, the lot. But it's extremely rare to see the trailers in the menus. They are referenced by a menu button which takes you to a new title (DVD Shrink would call this an "extra").

Will it just take a still and keep the buttons? Yes. That's what it does. Read the brilliantly authored help file. This tells you exactly how to use it and some technical guff on how it works.

This is very different to DVD Shrink, which can not keep the buttons in still image mode (it needs still pictures mode to do this).

Regards

The link to the guide has been updated - cynthia.

[jeanl]

Originally posted by blutach

Read the brilliantly authored help file.
Regards

[cynthia]

Originally posted by blutach

Read the brilliantly authored help file.
Regards

"You'll find a user manual written by blutach"

[MonkeyFarmer]

just wanted to say that this is a really cool program. soooo easy to use. thanks and keep it up.

[jeanl]

Thanks MonkeyFarmer, I appreciate the feedback! There's a few more things to come in a future release, so stay tuned!
jeanl

[orangedrink]

yeah great program, but how do you burn using it. i read the tutorial but dont completely understand how u incorporate the menushrinkbackup. Do you drag and drop the original video ts folder, then switch to shrink and will have compressed menus? thanks and keep up the good work

[jeanl]

Here's how I do it:
1) Rip in file mode with DVD Decrypter into folder MOVIE (for example)
2) Use menushink on MOVIE. The backup folder (MOVIE/MenuShrinkBackup) keeps a copy of the original menus. What's in MOVIE now is the movie with the shrunk down menus.
3) Open MOVIE with DVD Shrink (use the button to open it automatically). Use shrink as you normally would.
4) Burn using your normal burning technique after shrink.

Optionally, I use PGCEdit to remove all the stuff I don't want between steps 1 and 2.

jeanl

[orangedrink]

that clears it up. thanks guy

[jeanl]

MenuShrink Version 1.0 is here!

Version 1.0 has the following new features:

• Menu intros and outros can now be entirely skipped (most of them!) for a much smoother navigation. Thanks to blutach for the idea!
• A slider to select which frame to use in the still menus (replaces the first/last/largest options in Beta 0.800)
• A new "Soft DVD Player" button that can open the output DVD in a soft player (not all of them though, see user manual). Thanks Orion|69 for his help!
• Four user-definable "hot keys" (F1-F4) to open the output DVD with your favorite tools. See the user manual for how to set that up.

along with a couple bug fixes.
Get the new version at the usual place:
http://jean.laroche.free.fr/MenuShrink/

Here's the change log.

UI:

• Added a slider to select the still frame.
• Added a toggle to skip or not skip buttonless cells (menu intros/outros).
• Added user-definable hot keys F1 through F4. Requires editing the .ini file.
• Added a Soft DVD Player button.
• Added caption to Log Panel.
• Added New icon. Thanks Emile!
• Added message in red when error.
• Added the OneSecondStill option in the INI file. Only set to 1 if your settop box freezes on very short<> cells (jsoto's thomson player does!).

Engine:

• Added code to skip a cell if it has no buttons, no cell command and a cell immediately following it in the PGC. This entirely skips many buttonless menu intro/outro.
• The cell elapsed time is now corrected in the VOB files.
• The button info is now back-propagated to the first NavPacks. Fixes the preview problem with PgcEdit
• The end presentation time of the vobu is now adjusted for a 1-VOBU cell with no buttons. This makes the cell play much faster (in fact, it's invisible on my settop).
• Simplified processing when I-frame didn't have enough room for end-of-sequence and padding code.

Bug Fixes:

• The video format (PAL/NTSC) was not updated when a new DVD was loaded. This is fixed.
• Fixed crash when the number of VTS was larger than 23.

Enjoy!
jeanl

[nwg]

Thanks for the new version.

I have powerDVD and the soft player button doesn't load the DVD. It loads the program but that is all.

[jeanl]

That's a known problem. Unless you have version 6.0 of PowerDVD, it won't work (it's in the user manual). PowerDVD does not open DVD from the command line before 6.0
But media player classic does! (and it's free).
jeanl

[Mig$y]

jeanl, thanks for the update
It's going from strength to strength!

Has anybody been in touch with you regarding the amount of space they have saved when incorporating Menushrink. I'd be interested to see the results. A database would be cool with how much space you could save if you used Menushrink.....

I wonder which DVDs menus you would save the most space on?