Bitrate question - Standard Xvid rip vs HD Xvid rip

I'm fairly new to the forums as well as authoring / making DVD's. I've spent the last 3 days researching on how to do it and have the appropriate software to do so. However, I have a question. First, let me say that all settings I will be using will be the same, with the exception of bitrate.

We all know a higher bitrate will result in better quality, but here's where I'm stumped.
I have some TV episodes I want to burn to DVD. 2 Episodes per 4.7g disc. All are in .avi format and are 624x352 right now. Target resolution is 720x480. I have 2 versions of each episode -

First version of these episodes have bitrates between 800kbps and 1000Kbps. In order to get 2 episodes on 1 disc, I have to encode them around 6500-7000kbps.
The second version of these episodes have bitrates around 1700kbps. In order to get 2 on 1 disc, I have to encode at a slightly lower bitrate of around 6000-6200kbps.
My question is which will yield the better quality picture in the end product? The version which was ripped at a lower bitrate but encoded with the higher bitrate, or the version that was ripped with the higher bitrate and encoded at the lower bitrate?

 

At bitrates that high (6000-7000), I wouldn't be too concerned. It's the quality of your two files you should go by and if equal, HD has always been superior in my opinion. I have actually been able to put four 1 Hour episodes of HD Avi on one DVD 5 at a bitrate of around 1200 - 1500 and they turned out as good as a Commercial version on a 51" TV and I'm quite fussy about that. They wouldn't have if the original wasn't excellent quality. Bottom line, go with the best quality original, more bitrate won't make it better.