DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter quickly became the "must have" software of the DVD burning generation. DVD Decrypter, with its DeCSS engine, worked hand in hand with DVD Shrink, especially for DV9 media. Since the most commonly used DVD media is DV5, this 4.7 Gig limit proved critical for those who wished to copy and burn a DV9 (9 Gig) movie. Unless of course you had DVD Shrink.

As its name implies, DVD Shrink took a large 9 Gig DVD and compressed it so it could be burned to a 4.7 Gig DVD. Unlike many DVD utilities, DVD Shrink is a simple enough for the average user, had enough advanced features to please just about anyone and was 100% free. One could utilize such features as customizing the level of compression or removing unwanted audio and video segments.

Here's where things start to get interesting. DVD Shrink's last update was on July 25, 2004. As many know, when several months pass it typically implies trouble in paradise. Indeed, this morning those who frequent the "official" DVD Shrink website were greeted with this message:


"The (only) **Official** DVDShrink Site IS NO MORE!"


Fond memories of the likes of Song Spy, Scour, and of course DVD Decrypter would soon accompany feelings of disappointment. Howvever unlike DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink gave absolutely no explanation for its departure. But with a little knowledge, it becomes apparent that DVD Shrink truly has not been with us for more than a year. The "official" website was really just a home base for the program, authorized by the DVD Shrink programmer. Hundreds, if not thousands, of mirrors for this program exist. Considering the circumstances, this number is likely to dramatically increase in the coming days.

Full story...


Source : Slyck

I do not know if this is related to this story, but yesterday I tried to launch DVDShrink in vain. It seems the program no longer works on my PC. (Moreover, I do not know if this is just an expression of mourning for the now passed away software:(

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

You may perhaps need to reinstall it, I just finished using it... (Basically I use it daily).

(in reply to sp)

I did a couple of re-installs and re-boots, but it seems it does not like my Athlon 64:)
(Perhaps some conflict with another s/w. I have used only Nero and TMPeg...)

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

SP, must be a conflict there somewhere my friend, because I'm using it on all my systems without fail (they are all Intel though).

(in reply to sp)

quote:


...they are all Intel though).

...hmmmm

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

It works fine with my Athlon64 running WinXP Pro (nForce4 SLI)... My question is what could possibly conflict with it??? A VirusScanner; turn it off... Disc Encryption (i.e. PGP, TrueCrypt, etc...); turn off the encrypted volume... Not much else I can think of.

(in reply to sp)

Nope, I'm running Norton AV 2006, no problems with it.... while running Shrink, or any other program.

(in reply to SithTracy)

There are other VirusScanners, and personally, I think McAfee is a pain in the _ss.  We use it in the office and if it latches on to something coming in over the network or trying to gain CPU time, you're screwed if you think your going to get work done.  Just my two cents.  Also, I'm fairly familiar with encryption, and PGP Desktop 9 with whole disk or volume encryption is something to avoid... well, at least the whole disk encryption -- and really, this specific release (v9.0x).  I suggest folks wait to give it a shot until v9.10 comes out.  Also, give TrueCrypt a shot.

Just taking pot shots at sp's problem with Shrink.  A list of running or installed programs may be helpful.

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

Actually DVD Shrink is not discontinued, i think the author needs to remove the DeCSS routines and make it legal...

(in reply to SithTracy)