wmv to xvid, what bitrate to use to maintain same level of quality

[bbzidane]

i know that when i convert to another format, it will always degrade the quality of the video some what
what i would like to know is, should i use a higher bitrate or the same bitrate as the original video to minimize the lost of quality

say my original wmv video has a bitrate of 1400, should i re-encode it in xvid at 1400, 2800, or 2100?

thanks

[jagabo]

Use Target Quantizer mode. Pick the quality you want (quantizer value) then encode. 2 will be nearly identical to the source but the bitrate will be pretty high. 3 will show a little macroblocking if you look at enlarged still frames but it's not noticable at normal playback. 4 gives more macroblocks and smaller files, etc. I usually use 3.

[Soopafresh]

Depends on too many factors to say for certain. You'll have to experiment.