13ack.Stab

You can actually have CCCP and CoreAVC installed simultaneously and reap some of the benefits of both. Read more here: http://www.cccp-project.net/wiki/index.php?title=CoreAVC

This isn't true at all. MKVs play just fine with most media players, as well as on linux boxes (i.e. ReadyNAS), streaming-based players (i.e. the Roku), hardware media boxes, etc. Also:

Ross, thank you for your response. I highly recommend grabbing a copy of Avisynth (though I'm assuming that you already have this installed, so I won't elaborate), and using MeGUI as a frontend - it's pretty easy to use, has loads of functionality, and is very versatile. If you have any questions regarding setting it up or getting it configured initially, shoot me a PM and I'd be very glad to lend a hand.

You... wait, what? You don't need to know how to code anything to be able to use MKVs.

@Daft VLC is a media player, while CCCP and K-Lite are codec packages. VLC has terrible internal codecs, so you should generally avoid it like the plague - rather, you should install any respectable codec pack (CCCP, K-Lite, and CoreAVC are the primary contenders) and use MPC-HC to play videos. Alternatively, MplayerX works pretty well on the Mac platform. That said, I voted for the .mkv container. Ross, I strongly recommend ensuring that you're using a High AVC Profile at level 4.1 in your x264 settings for maximum compatibility. Thanks for all of your hard work!

Please, *please* encode your videos with the MKV container; it's widely supported these days, and has an incredible amount of flexibility. AVI and WMV are containers that are, quite frankly, outdated these days. I wouldn't be against your using MP4s, but, again, I highly recommend MKVs. Thanks for your time and consideration.