Using MPEG-4 or h.264 For Media Streaming to an A/V System

[AZ_Jayhawk]

I have searched the various forums and can't find the specific answers to my questions, so I will post one here.

I have ripped most of my DVD movie collection (approx. 100 movies) and have them stored on harddrives attached my home network. To save data storage space (and to box up my DVDs), I plan to convert them to either MPEG-4 or H.264 format. To watch my movie collection, I am thinking of buying a D-Link media player and connecting it to my network (via ethernet - my house is wired with ethernet throughout), my HD big screen and audio system.

My questions are as follows:

(1) If I convert my ripped movies to either MPEG-4 or H.264 format using the original resolution of the source DVD, will this produce as good (or close to) of video image and audio quality as the source DVD for playing on my A/V media system?

(2) Between MPEG-4 and H.264, what format will produce the best audio/video output?

(3) Are there any other siggestions you have?

Thanks in advance!

[steveryan]

1&2 - If your pc spec in your profile is up to date then I wouldn't bother with H.264, it takes a long, long time to encode. Xvid would be a better bet but with your cpu it wouldn't be fast. If you want to use Xvid then try AutoGK, you can even keep the original audio. The best thing to do is experiment with different file sizes and let your own eyes decide.

3 - Have you considered sticking with what you already have, i.e ripping all your films to hard drives and streaming from those?

[AZ_Jayhawk]

I believe my profile is incorrect, I have a Celeron 3.0Ghz processor with 1.5 GB of RAM. Based on that, does that change your opinion?

I'm not overly concerned with how long it takes to convert. I don't mind hitting the start button before I leave for work and doing one a day (if that's what it takes)

Regarding sticking with just streaming the ripped movies, I have considered that. But, according to D-Link's website, their player does not support VOB and ISO formats (I assume to make the studios happy). If possible, I would also like to reduce the amount of storage space I'm using.

[rumplestiltskin]

I've not heard of anything that streams H264 at this moment (except Apple iTV which won't be released until January and, of course, you'll need to have a Mac for that).