1st post - hopefully the last seeking answers (try & do it all in one). Here goes: I have amassed a large collection of music vids. My WinXP is well trimmed. I use MPC, Real & Quicktime alternatives and K-Lite Codec Pack (full or standard - currently standard). I have also just installed DivX Pro. My PC is a safe half step behind leading edge and all is up-to-date.

1. Video Quality (as in resolution, colour etc) - While most are of good quality some vids vary between binnable and acceptable only because the sound is ok. My question here is ... who are these prideless boneheads who waste my time, bandwidth & money by posting such sh.t? So I can go break their posting fingers.
1a. (the real question 1). Typical Problem: A large .mov file (or .avi or .vob or .mpg etc). I want to break it into pieces. I have RAD vid tools and quite a collection of others. The problem is finding the right combination of selections (codec?)/settings so that I can create .avi or .mpg files (ultimately destined for DVD) with minimal or no quality loss. Need settings for audio content as well (only want/need stereo).
1b. Some (actually quite a few) vids display as a band i.e. large blank above & below. Are they made this way originally or is this more from the persons mentioned in Q1 above? Also is is possible to achieve a single settings (in MPC) so that I don't have to constantly adjust aspect ratios, pan & scan stuff?
2. The sound quality in these vids is mostly very good. However the volume level varies in them even more than it does in my mp3 collection. A real pain in the proverbial. What can I do about this?
3. Mp3s can have those very useful internal tags. Is there any way of adding similar attributes to vid clips?

Well that's it - hopefully answerers will provide the clues that I can interpret to solve other minor issues myself. General windows issues I have no problem with. I can dance around in the registry with the best of them. It's just this area of codecs (and their settings) that is costing me an inordinate amount of time.