libavcodec (ffmpeg, mencoder)

ildct (Interlaced Discrete Cosine Transform) & ilme (Interlaced Motion Estimation): Seem to be necessary for interlaced encodings
mdb=2: (Macroblock Decoding): 0, Use mbcmp (default). 1, Select the MB mode which needs the fewest bits (=vhq). 2, Select the MB mode which has the best rate distortion. "using mbd=2 is strongly recommended [2] because it will encode macroblocks as non-interlaced in places where there is no motion." [cite]
trell (Trellis quantization): Good I guess (according to mplayer), interlaced or not.
mpeg4 only: 4mv (Four motion vector)

MEncoder

DVD:
```
  -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd
  
```
DVD with NTSC Pullup:
```
  -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:telecine -ofps 24000/1001
  
```
This allows 24000/1001 fps progressive content to be encoded at 30000/1001 fps whilst maintaing DVD-compliance.
[cite]

MPEG

Contianer

"MPG: This is the most basic form of the MPEG file formats. It contains MPEG-1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) or rarely MP1 audio."

MPlayer

Video

Macrobocks are 16x16
Interlaced frame Y axis cropping (offset) should be in multiples of 4 (to catch chromanance samples)
"When video is stored on DVD, consecutive pairs of fields are grouped as a frame, even though they are not intended to be shown at the same moment in time. The MPEG-2 standard used on DVD and digital TV provides a way both to encode the original progressive frames and to store the number of fields for which a frame should be shown in the header of that frame. If this method has been used, the movie will often be described as "soft-telecined", since the process only directs the DVD player to apply pulldown to the movie rather than altering the movie itself. This case is highly preferable since it can easily be reversed (actually ignored) by the encoder, and since it preserves maximal quality. However, many DVD and broadcast production studios do not use proper encoding techniques but instead produce movies with "hard telecine", where fields are actually duplicated in the encoded MPEG-2." [cite]
Constant bitrate: Reduce quality to meet bitrate or waste bits on low detail. Constant Q: Make disposable details look unecessarily good or needed details look bad (on every macroblock). ABR (Average Bit Rate) (multipass): Quantitizers change per frame (and thus bitrate) to allocate bits where they're really needed.

MPlayer

Format of DVD

Max stream rate of 10.08 Mbps, max 9.8 Mbps sum of vido, audio, and subpicture

mpeg1 (SIF combo) or mpeg2 (a restricted version of Main Profile at Main Level (MP@ML) and SP@ML(?)) video
constant or variable bitrate for mpeg2, only constant for mpeg1
NTSC 29.97 (30,000/1,001) frames per second only (?) (true), even though mpeg2 mp@ml allows 23.976, 24, and 30 frames per second.
24fps can only be coded in the mpeg2 video because the video must produce the 60 fields (30 frame) per second NTSC signal for DVD. By repeat_first_field flags (and others (odd/even first)) in the mpeg2 video stream, 24fps frames can be "pulldown"ed via 2-3 telecine into fields. [more information on interlace vs progressive]
24fps can be encoded(? says wikipedia) (I guess it depends on what "encoded" means?)
"MPEG-2 progressive_sequence is not allowed, but interlaced sequences can contain progressive pictures and progressive macroblocks" [cite] (?)
Y'CbCr at 4:2:0
mpeg2: 720 & 704 & 352 x 480, & 352x240
mpeg1: 352x240
mpeg1 does not support interlacing
There is an "auto pan & scan" which enables defining a 4:3 window in an 16:9 anamorphic source, where the window placement is defined in mpeg headers, but this is not commonly used
There is more info concerning aspect ratios of source and display available as mpeg headers?
Anamorphic only at 720(?), no, all but 352 (so it does include 704)
720 wide has the same pixel aspect ratio as 704 wide
704 wide displays at a display aspect ratio of 4:3, while the display aspect ratio of 720 wide is wider to cover the overscan present in NTSC signals. Both are displayed as 4:3 on computers thus 720 is slightly distorted?
Up to 9.8 Mbps for mpeg2 video (though >9 doesn't improve much), 1.856 Mbps for mpeg1 video
Max buffer: mpeg2 1.8535008 Mbps, mpeg1 0.327689 Mbps
Max GOP size: 36 fields or 18 frames

mpeg container (system stream) can have up to 8 audio streams
NTSC must have ac3 or pcm
ac3, mpeg (MPEG-1 Layer 2 only(?)) audio, pcm, dts, and sdds(?) are allowed
pcm at 48 or 96 kHz
pcm 16, 20(?), or 24 bits
pcm 1 to 8 (or 6?)channels
pcm up to 6.144 Mbps
ac3 48 kHz
ac3 up to (?) 24 bits
ac3 bitrate from 64 kbps to 448 kbps
ac3 "The channel combinations are (front/surround): 1/0, 1+1/0 (dual mono), 2/0, 3/0, 2/1, 3/1, 2/2, and 3/2. The LFE channel is optional with all 8 combinations"
mpeg 48 kHz
mpeg 16 or 20 bits
mpeg1 or mpeg2 audio supported (wikipedia says MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 (II))
mpeg variable (?) bitrate from 32 kbps to 912 kbps (mpeg1 limited to 384 kbps) (wikipedia says 1 or 2 channels up to 256 kbps ?)
mpeg "Channel combinations are (front/surround): 1/0, 2/0, 2/1, 2/2, 3/0, 3/1, 3/2, and 5/2. The LFE channel is optional with all combinations. The 7.1 channel format adds left-center and right-center channels, but is rare for home use."
mpeg "MPEG-2 surround channels are in an extension stream matrixed onto the MPEG-1 stereo channels, which makes MPEG-2 audio backwards compatible with MPEG-1 hardware (an MPEG-1 system will only see the two stereo channels.)"
mpeg "MPEG Layer 3 (MP3) and MPEG-2 AAC (also known as NBC or unmatrix) are not supported by the DVD-Video standard."
mpeg "MPEG audio is not used much on DVDs", and mpeg "on NTSC discs, which goes against the DVD standard and is not supported by all NTSC players."