[EvanAnderson]

I transcode because H.264 saves me a lot of space over MPEG 2. I don't notice the quality loss but I do notice the disk space and faster file transfers.

[dexterdog]

Also, most modern players are much faster at seeking through a proper mkv that an old avi or a much larger file.

[AndrewUnmuted]

This is true indeed, mkv is a great container. The reason for my question was that the OP appeared to be transcoding (a codec-level operation) just to switch the container type. When it was mentioned that the transcode was to convert from MPEG-2 to H.264, my question was answered. :)