I am trying to convert a movie I have from the avi format to an mkv format. I am fairly new to using avconv, but would like to use it to perform this conversion.

My real problem is knowing what settings to use such as the bitrate. Essentially all I want to do is change the format to allow my DVD player to play it.

In Windows I would normally use FormatFactory, which essentially allowed me to do a drag and drop conversion with no setting changes required. I essentially am trying to do that same thing in Ubuntu but with the command line.