For the longest time, I was ripping my DVD collection using FairUse Wizard so I could watch them either via TVersity>Xbox Dashboard or WMC>Xbox Extender. I generally used X.264 (AVI container) and the results had always been great, even with default settings. As for other files (shows, etc), I generally kept them as original source MKV or MP4.

For a couple of weeks back, I got the Logitech Revue (took it back since). When I had it though, I realized that moving forward, using MP4 was the better option since I can replay my files on my Android phone and my wife's iPhone as well. I know MP4 has it's limitations (no 5.1 or external subtitles).

Here is my problem: Using Tmpgenc 4.0 Xpress to rip DVDs to MPEG-4 AVC, the quality of the output is not even close to that of what FairUse puts out (X.264/AVI) for the same file size. Why??? What settings should I adjust for the MPEG-4 AVC profile to eliminate the blocks??