HTPC. How to make a server and do i encode my movies or rip them uncompressed?

[FFactory0x]

I have 460gb of space and want to make my computera movie server. I Have an XBOX with XBMC on it so i can stream movies. Someone said to rip my movies and run them as a server, but when i rip do i leave them as is or do i encode them. I mean as is would be a folder with a bunch of vob's that are like 1gb a piece

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'd encode them to DIVX for streaming over the network.

 

[FFactory0x]

is it hard to encode to divx. I was thinking of just ripping the move out in dvdshrink. The movie will still be like 3-4 gbs though. Explain how you setup your server. Would love to learn

 

[jterrell]

http://www.linuxis.us/linux/media/howto/linux-htpc/

 

[FFactory0x]

yea but i want windows on there

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: FFactory0x
is it hard to encode to divx. I was thinking of just ripping the move out in dvdshrink. The movie will still be like 3-4 gbs though. Explain how you setup your server. Would love to learn

I have your basic home LAN, with everything connected through the router, except my modded sexbox which is a stand-alone HT+gaming platform for the master bedroom. Until I pony up to add wireless to it anyways, I don't want to string CAT5 through the roof.

I just have a folder containing multimedia content on my dual opteron system and share the folder with the other desktop and notebook on the LAN. To add or change content on the xbox, I just bring it in my computer room to do it.

Since my notebook only has a 30gb drive in it, I stream movies to it when I have it on battery to save a little on power and wear&tear on the DVD drive. Some are in DIVX/XVid format, but I have found that DVD2SVCD with the proper settings in combo with CCE produces very good quality BBMPEG so I encode some that way and just use PowerDVD to play them back.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I would rip just the movie (no extras no additional soundtracks) and keep it in the DVD (VOB) format. I'm not familiar with the XBOX media capabilites but if I wanted to stream movies or use a HTPC, I'd keep the movie in the original format.

 

[SearchMaster]

Gordian Knot is a pretty good frontend for encoding to Divx. If you leave the VOBs, your movies will be at least 4GB each; you can cut that by at least 75% by encoding to Divx without noticeable degradation of the movie. That's less storage requirements, less network bandwidth, etc.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: SearchMaster
Gordian Knot is a pretty good frontend for encoding to Divx. If you leave the VOBs, your movies will be at least 4GB each; you can cut that by at least 75% by encoding to Divx without noticeable degradation of the movie. That's less storage requirements, less network bandwidth, etc.

Precisely.