Hi Luis, Thanks for your advice. Unfortunately it hasn't worked. I am trying to create a file that conforms to MPEG-4 simple profile, as this is all the archos can support. I have read through the man/FAQ's &docs but I can not find a mention of this anywhere. I think that the file has to be DivX, does .-ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 output a standard DivX file? Under windows I use: variable bitrate mode = 1-pass encoding bitrate = 800 kbps max keyframe interval = 300 max quantizer = 12 min quantizer = 2 RC averaging period, frames 2000 RC reaction period, frames 10 rate control up/down reaction 20 Can anyone help! Thanks in advance, Wes. P.S. I have tried: mencoder -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:preset=128 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 -vop scale=352x288 berminster_1.avi -o wes_l.avi