[bluedan]

So far I have done a lot of DVD backups spanning 2 or sometimes 3 (Lord of the Rings) CDs with MPEG2 -> MPEG4 transformation, mostly XVid.

For I don't really see the purpose for a test environment without bsplayer installed, I can't tell if 2CD playback succeeds in that case.
Frankly, I rather doubt it.
To make a player aware of sequencial parts of a movie on different volumes a meta data file such as the .ini is essential.
Even if you use matroska container where segments of the entire movie can be linked to each other.

Currently, I am switching to storage on DVD. A single layer DVD can easily hold 3 movies with 2 hours running time each with similar bitrate compared to 2CD.
Also AVC is becoming my favorite video codec now. :D
No need for splitting up anymore, these DVD discs cost less than 50 Euro cents.
My movies were never intended to run on a standalone. Concerning accepted formats and playback options they are much less flexible than playback on a PC.
Anyway, my TV screen is much smaller than my TFT....