These avi files are obviously your source material which you are archiving.  Personally I'd keep them at the best available quality which is how they were downloaded.  Converting to mp4 will change their image pixel size and pixel aspect ratio and with MVPX6 you will go from 50i to 25p which means one field is totally lost.  25fps can also make movement look jerky.

Best to buy more external drives if space is getting limited on your storage drive. They are relatively inexpensive nowadays.

Point taken Eric, thank you

Best to buy more external drives if space is getting limited on your storage drive. They are relatively inexpensive nowadays.

Your AVI files are presumably interlaced and with stretched pixels.  What exactly are they and what mp4 format are you using?

My old SD AVI files I converted to mpg for use on my TV and to mp4 for Vimeo and YouTube.

My 1080 50i HD I export as AVCHD and/or Blu-ray for TV use.  I convert the Blu-ray file to mp4 for Vimeo and YouTube.

Nowadays I use Handbrake, a free utility, for my mp4 conversions.  Several reasons but the main one being I can keep my 50 fps framerate.  If you use MVPX6 it only does PAL mp4 at 25fps.  Or 30 if you are NTSC.

My old 8mm tapes were downloaded on to the computer via Firewire some years ago, they are good, but they take up such a lot of space on the storage drive, but just wondered if it would be OK (clarity wise) to make them into mp4 clips using Movieplus x6.

When I view them as mp4's they seem OK, just wondered if there's any detriment in doing so.

I'm 25fps Pal

Nowadays I use Handbrake, a free utility, for my mp4 conversions.  Several reasons but the main one being I can keep my 50 fps framerate.  If you use MVPX6 it only does PAL mp4 at 25fps.  Or 30 if you are NTSC.

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My old SD AVI files I converted to mpg for use on my TV and to mp4 for Vimeo and YouTube.

My 1080 50i HD I export as AVCHD and/or Blu-ray for TV use.  I convert the Blu-ray file to mp4 for Vimeo and YouTube.

Nowadays I use Handbrake, a free utility, for my mp4 conversions.  Several reasons but the main one being I can keep my 50 fps framerate.  If you use MVPX6 it only does PAL mp4 at 25fps.  Or 30 if you are NTSC.

What do you folks think, what file system do you store.

Getting a new computer has made me wake up a bit.