Converting H.264 to xvid

[Aquous]

Hi guys.

I have a bunch of 45-minutes-long HD (h264) video files which I'd like to convert to 350 MB xvid video files. I've already tried doing this with ffmpeg, mencoder, and avidemux, and they all give the same result: the file is both too large and the aspect ratio (which is ordinary 720p) is completely screwed up. Do any of you guys know the proper way to do what I want?

Thanks

[avx]

avidemux? You can play with the GUI at first until you're satisfied and then use the provided CLI client to automate it(provided the files aren't that different).
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[Aquous]

As I said before - the file is both too large (I can only set target size for the video portion, not for both video and audio) and the aspect is completely whacked.

[avx]

Sorry, overread you already used it.

It's simple, avidemux has a calculator, use it to get the size needed for video so that video + audio = desired size.

As for aspect, for some reason it defaults to use a strange aspect, in video config options, there's a radio check, set it to aspect 1:1 to keep the original.
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[Aquous]

OK, using the calculator I can get the desired filesize, so that problem's solved.
However, the aspect ratio is still screwed up.

Both the source file and the transcoded file are reported by VLC to have a resolution of 720x480 pixels. However, the source file is (correctly) scaled to 1280x723 (not a typo) when I play it in VLC, while the transcoded file is scaled to 1280x854 pixels, which is of course incorrect. This happens when selecting the 1:1 aspect option.

[avx]

Did you use any filters in terms of dimensions(ie removing black bars or something) and which container are you using? Same behaviour with other players, mplayer f.e.?

Could you share say a 20s sample of one source-file?
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[Aquous]

I'm not sure if sharing a sample would be legal or whether that would be considered piracy, so I'm a little hesistant to do so.
What I can give you is the information that both VLC and mplayer scale the output file wrongly. Also, I did not use any filters or such in avidemux.

Perhaps this information is useful:

For the source file, mplayer outputs (translated - mplayer seems to ignore LC_ALL=C):