Xbox Media Center - Encoding Format Debate

[Beliyal]

I've decided to resurrect my Xbox1 media center for my room. I want to transfer all of my DVD's to it and I have been debating as to what format to choose. It currently has a 250mb hard drive installed. Simply ripping the DVD's to 4gb ISOs is simply to much space. Currently I'm debating between Xvid or X264 with a target of 1.5gb a rip. I can do both reliably but x264 is 3 hours to encode as opposed to 45 minutes for xvid. Is using x264 over xvid really worth it when I'm watching it in standard definition. Since the space requirements are the same is x264 going to have better video quality over xvid when watching on standard definition television?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long winded question.

[hgoku]

x264 does have better quality over xvid however only slightly. I do not think it is worth the extra time to encode unless you really have the time.
There is one thing i am concerned with regarding playing h264 files on XBMC. Will it play it correctly i.e will it not lag etc. To play x264 files on a pc one must have at least a 1ghz computer whereas a xbox does not have that kind of capability, so don't you think it will lag when playing this type of file?

[prOnorama]

Stick with Xvid for SD DVD rips, IMO x264 is more beneficial for HD content. Though you can save on the space of course (x264 needing less space for the same quality)

If I make medium quality Xvid rips (1100-1500 Kbps) I can hardly see the difference with the source DVD on my TV, but I still have a 28" CRT.

Why not try out a few rips and just compare them?

[Dark Shikari]

x264 is considerably superior to Xvid, espcially at low bitrates. It can be slower than Xvid, but only if you set the settings as such.

[Shakey_Jake33]

I've not used XBMC in quite a while, but I remember even thr 640x480 H.264 files I had used to loose sync within seconds.

[~bT~]

XviD is the way to go IMO. x264 wont work very well. Will be choppy playback as the X box doesn't have enough juice to play them.

[Rebos]

I still use my XBMC every day (mainly for anime) and it has really never played any .264 well at all. It even has issues playing most .mkv files. I think its finally time to put my xbox to rest and just do the media pc.