High quality encode for archiving

[nolic]

I try to find a way to archive my DV projects into high quality mpeg4, and I think I've found it. This post might belong to the DV forum but all the information I have produced is quite Linux-specific, I'm afraid.

On my page (http://syr.home.dyndns.org/MEncoder/mencoder.html) you will find the details of the test I did and the conclusion I reached. It is not finished, but the overall conclusion is already usefull I believe. Contributions are welcome!

[edDV]

I'm still not buying into MPeg4 as an archive for DV projects. There are too many quality tradeoffs until h.264 interlace performance is adequate. For the intermendiate term, I'll keep archives on DV tape and transfer to next gen high capacity DVD media when that option is economic.

Maybe we differ on the term "archive". I intend the archive to be available for reuse and full quality editing. If reuse isn't anticipated, then high bitrate MPeg4 may be usable.

[nolic]

Yes, I found out that interlaced encodes had lower quality. On top of that, the resulting avi doesn't play correctly on many software and hardware players.
But I've heard of a technique called bobbing, meaning double-rate encoding. I guess the original interlaced movie can be reproduced at playback... anyone knows how to use it in mencoder?