This will allow a classic XBOX to play 1280×720 video and should work for anything you can throw at mencoder.

subtitletracks=`mkvinfo "${1}" | fgrep "Track type: subtitles" -b2 | fgrep "Track number:" | awk '{print $NF}' | xargs`;
echo "Found subtitle tracks: ${subtitletracks}";
if [ `echo ${subtitletracks} | wc -w` -gt 1 ]; then
for i in ${subtitletracks};
do
mkvextract tracks "${1}" ${i}:"$1".avi.srt.${i};
done;
cp -i -a "${1}".avi.srt.`echo ${subtitletracks} | cut -d " " -f1` "${1}".avi.srt;
else
mkvextract tracks "${1}" ${subtitletracks}:"${1}".avi.srt;
fi;
echo "Finished extracting subtitle tracks for ${1}. Now encoding video.";
nice -n 19 ionice -c3 mencoder "${1}" -o "${1}".avi -oac copy -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=4000:vrc_maxrate=5000:vrc_buf_size=4096;
echo "Finished encoding video for ${1}. Exit status was: ${?}";
unset subtitletracks


GUI is for the weak. Meet my window manager, GNU screen:

0. Build screen from source to fix the slowdown when scrolling in a vertical split.

1. This is my .screenrc with keyboard shortcuts and a nifty status bar.  –help?

Control + Up:  previous split screen

Control + Down: next split screen

Control + Left:  previous screen window

Control + Right: next screen window

F1: kill current tab

F2: write paste buffer to file

F3: split horizontally

F4: split vertically

F5: remove single split

F6: remove all splits

F7: urlview pulls URL's from your current output, very useful

F8: new tab

F9: resize split +1 line

F10: resize split -1 line

2. Install screen_ssh.sh so your window title automatically renames to your ssh destination.  To have the title revert after closing your shell follow this.

3. color = readability.  Install color wrapper to colorize your terminal output.  Alias man to use most as its pager.  Use the following for a colorful prompt with $? in $2:

00:43:18 0 user@hostname:~/$

\[\033[1;36m\]\t\[\033[0m\] `LastExitValue=$?; if [ $LastExitValue = 0 ]; then echo \[\033[1\;32m\]$LastExitValue\[\033[0m\]; else echo \[\033[1\;31m\]$LastExitValue\[\033[0m\]; fi` \[\033[1;34m\]\u@\h\[\033[0m\]:\[\033[1;33m\]\w\[\033[0m\]\[\033[1;32m\]\$\[\033[0m\]

To remove color use:  s/\x1B\[([0-9]{1,2}(;[0-9]{1,2})?)?[m|K]//g

4. Yakuake is the best terminal emulator. Configure these shortcuts:

Shift + Left: previous shell

Shift + Right: next shell

F11: full screen

F12: drop down