I have already ripped the DVD and in the process of encdoing to H.264 by using the guide available on the XBMC wiki website, but the process is likely to now take over 8 hours. Is there a better a faster alternative?

I'm a newb to this and haven't read anything but.....

Using DVD Shrink, 100% uncompressed, I just transfer the Audio and Video folders over to the hard drive and play it that way.

It looks exactly the same as a DVD.

Only problem is because my hard drive is small, I can only play about 1 hour and 40 minutes like this.

Cheers.

OUCH! No, don't do it like that. If you're using XBMC on an Xbox, your best bet is to either A.) Rip the DVD in an AVI format, or B.) make an ISO from the disc and leave it on your computer's hard drive.

XBMC will stream ISOs over a network, giving you all of the DVD's menus, dolby digital surround sound, and full quality video. I've played a ton of DVD movies like this without running into ANY problems.

But if you want the DVD to be on the Xbox hdd, then definitely do it in a compressed video format. If anyone remembers AXXO, try googling around for his ripping presets. He always had amazing rips, but there are many others who are doing just as well.

Thanks Venom!

I can't believe I'm so late to this party.

XBMC is so my world right now.

The set up I have in my living room amazes me. And yeah, it even has it's own web page that I can access it with on my phone.

I need to learn how to start streaming videos though.

I don't have cable anymore (tired of the stupid $80 a month service fees of horror) so I'm completely dependent on my old Xbox.

Hey, can it play a Blue Ray ripped DVD?

I've tried this but it runs super chunky.

My friend says it works on his because his hard drive is faster.

Is he just full of crap? *lol*

Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions. I used DVDShrink to create a ISO image of a DVD movie and it worked way faster than encoding to H.264 ever did! It is convenient that DVDShrink allows you to rip the entire DVD, but I'd rather just have the movie. I aim for a 3.9gb size and store them on my PC, sharing them with my XBOX through SMB. One question though, does the PC have to remain on in order to enable SMB? I'm sure the answer is yes, but is this what everybody out there is doing?

I doubt that you'll get many answers to that question that don't include huge handfuls of sarcasm.......

Yes the PC has to remain on. You can however make a file server for your home. I honestly think this is a great idea for anyone. Eventually all media will be downloaded or streamed so it will be best to have a server to access that media within your home. That way you can keep all the unused computers off.