I'm a bit of a n00b when it comes to AV codecs, so please bear with. Since DVR-MS (MPEG2) is such an inefficient codec, I'm hoping to transcode some of the shows I want to keep to a different format, while a) preserving DD (AC3) soundtrack, b) minimizing loss of video detail and c) cutting commercials.
I briefly played around with using DVRMSToolbox's GUI to WMV format, but the file sizes don't seem any smaller after processing. Does DVRMSToolbox support encoding direclty to H.264 (or would you suggest another format?) ... I'm guessing it does, and one just needs a custom profile (and ffmpeg?) to effect this? Does anyone have this profile already made up, or any pointers/details on creating it?
Many thanks!