So many video/audio formats to choose from. Which one should I use?

[green41]

Hello everyone,
I am new to this and I am overwhelmed trying to decide which video format I should use. I rip a DVD using DVDFab version 5 and I just recently purchased another application named Axara Media. I make a full DVD copy of a video using DVDFab and then I need to take the vob files and convert them into another format so that I can transfer them from my PC to a TIVO box. The formats available for the TIVO box are:

Windows Media Video (.wmv)
QuickTime Movie (.mov)
MPEG-4/H.264 (.mp4, .m4v, .mp4v)
MPEG-2 (.mpg, .mpeg, .mpe, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpv2)
DivX or Xvid (.avi, .divx)

Axar Media can covert the vob files into any of those formats, but I don’t' know which will have the best video and audio quality. Axar has several default profiles set for each of the formats that decide the video codec, resolution, aspect correction, bitrate, framerate, audio codec, audio bitrate, frequency, channels, etc.

I am not concerned yet with talking about the television which will be playing the movie once the conversion is completed because that will be getting upgraded in the near future. I know that is a consideration but I want to get the best quality conversion hurdle completed first, and then I will worry about upgrading the television next.

I was wondering based on other peoples experiences, test, and so on, which format is preferred? Is one format quicker than another?

[jagabo]

MPEG-4/H.264 (probably AAC audio) MP4 will get you the best quality at the smallest file size. If you want wider compatibility (standalone Divx/DVD players) and/or faster encoding use Divx/Xvid (MP3 or AC3 audio) AVI.

[ntscuser]

XviD with MP3 audio created with AutoGK has been "good enough" for me.