This is a collection of A/V tools and configurations. It is not an all-encompassing list, just some information on what I have found that works well now.

Video Encoding

Mac OSX 10.4 DVD - Handbrake
This is definitely the best DVD tool on the Mac. It will convert to MP4 on the fly and it is a universal binary so runs really fast on the Intel Macs. Performance varies widely (from 50% time to encode on a dual G5 desktop to 25% time to encode on an Intel Mini to 400% time on a G4 laptop). I'll upload some preferred configuration screenshots son

Mac OSX 10.4 Video Re-encoding - ffmpegX
This is a graphic frontend to ffmpeg and it includes installers for the support apps (which need to be downloaded separately). The ffmpeg binary has a lot of settings and finding the right combination can be tricky. Here is a PERL script which includes the configuration for converting supported video to AVI/MP3 for use on the Archos AV500 and AV700 players:

conv2archos.pl

Audio Encoding

Coming soon...