Best settings for Xvid playback on Philips 642?

[BlueWeasel]

I've posted this link over at DVDrhelp.com, but didn't get much feedback.

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=220415 (LINK)

Basically, I'm new to Divx/Xvid encoding, and want to be able to get high quality backups of my DVDs so they can be played on my new Philips 642 player.

So far, I've encoded a few Band of Brothers episodes to Xvid (1 hour long, 700mb file size). I used AutoGK to do it, and the resolutions varied from 544x304, 576x320, to 608x336.

Initally playback on the 642 wasn't what I was expecting. While it wasn't bad, the image looked stretched or pixelated.

Since then, I've backup LOTR1 (3 hours long, 1500mb file size) to a DVD-R using a resolution of 640x464. It looks better than BOB, yet the bitrate is smaller. The resolution is higher, though.

I really only care about playback with the standalone player. Is it better to always go with the higher resolutions like 640x480, or even 720x480, even with a lower bitrate?

Also, the LOTR backup was fullscreen (4:3 AR), while BOB was 16:9 (anamorphic). Is there a problem with anamorphic resolutions on the standalone Divx players?

Thanks!

[feliz]

I have been using VdudMod plus avisynth with good results. I have tried Xvid, but now am using Divx. My files around 2.2 gb to fit 2 movies on a dvd+r.

note. I think height has to be mod8

[CrashUK]

what you need to use is... fair use it make very good looking xvid movies that playback on my hardware player..