title: ffmpeg vs mencoder
body: <p>I'm doing a bunch of video encoding for a variety of devices and platforms.  I've bounced back and forth a few times between <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/" rel="noreferrer">mencoder</a> and <a href="http://www.ffmpeg.org/" rel="noreferrer">ffmpeg</a>.  Which do you recommend and why?</p>
  
  <p>Side question: From googling it seems that mencoder uses ffmpeg.  Does it do this all the time or only when it deems necessary?</p>