DVD Ripper AVI vs. MKV vs. MP4

[gamecaptor]

Hello all,

I’m getting away from converting my DVDs from XviD and instead going to go to start using h264 (did some playing around and h264 clearly looks better). My question is which container to use? I understand that the container isn’t necessarily important, but from what I’m reading there are some advantages and disadvantages in each case (like AVI has limited B-Frame support, MKV can support chapters, etc). I’m fairly certain that MKV is the way to go, but before I commit to it, could anyone offer me some insight into the differences between them (I could be overlooking/missing something and maybe MP4 is the way to go).

Some things I should probably mention:
My typical DVD conversion settings are 2-pass/2000k/Audiocopy/Auto crop.
My primary playback devices will be PCs and WD Live players.
I’m also going to start playing around with Blu-ray conversions soon-ish (in which case I’ll probably apply the same setup and whatever I decide above)

Regards.

[AGJ]

Try the MKV as it the newer container and WDTV supports it. Try a few conversion first to see if it works for what you like it for before doing mass conversions

[joecurly02]

bump for more opinions plz.

[signals]

I agree. AVI is dated, MP4 is limited but more universally playable, MKV by far the most versatile and advanced container, but not all players can handle all of its features (or play it at all in some cases).

[billbell52]

If you plan to any thing with smart phones or tablets then MP4 is preferred.