I have done a little searching and I haven't found a specific answer to this...can I rip a dvd and then ftp the files/folders to my xbox hdd and then play them with XBMC? I'm sure there are easy ways to do this...or even methods to rip a dvd to xvid format to put on the hard drive. Can someone point me in the general direction? The reason I don't just want to use dvd2xbox is the fact that I would like to be able to back up my dvd's and while I have the files on my computer I could just ftp them to my xbox all in one sitting. Otherwise I have to go through the process at least twice.
Yeah, it should work fine. You'll have to convert the DVD iso/whatever to AVI or what-have-you to make it work. It won't just play an ISO or .img file. But yes! It should work perfectly. At least it does with my episodes of Whose Line is it Anyway.
I have my entire DVD collection backup up in XviD format on HDDs in my computer, I then just stream them across the network! I have hundreds, not to mention my TV collection! Have a look at my networking guide (page 4\5 i think) to see my setup...
Thanks. I have to set aside some time to get through the network setup. I've been resetting my ip address every time I ftp since I've been using dhcp. Once I get the static stuff set I think I should be able to get it working without too much problem. As far as streaming is there any lag or buffering during playback? I will most likely set up a share on my external usb drive since I have limited hdd space on my computer. Or...is it possible to use one of those controller to usb cables to attach the external drive directly to the xbox? I know there are mods for adding multiple hdds to the xbox but I don't know if I want to try that yet.
One more thing...what do you use to convert your dvd's to xvid? I have not used any software for this yet and wonder what the best contraption for the job would be.
Auto Gordian Knot and Xvid encoder. There's no lag on my stream. As for the External drives, I know that my USB Thumb drives work, not too sure about the larger ones though...
About how much does a movie come out to (Filesize) when converted with said software? I'm still looking for an IDE drive to use on it, so I still have my 5gb or whatever comes with the Xbox. Let's say the movie is about 90 minutes in length.
Depends on the quality you are looking for... I can rip a film similar to aXXo quality for the same size (700MB), however I have a 50" Plasma now and I can start to see the flaws. I now need to start encoding around the 1400MB mark for good clarity in 720p... But on my 80cm CRT TV the 700MB rips are perfect!
