converting avi to mpg and keeping video resolution?

[colin.]

I'm finding it impossible to convert videos that I made on my digicam
(640x480 .avi) into .mpg without halving the resolution and dramatically
worsening the audio quality.

Is it at all possible to convert .avi to .mpg and retain sound quality and
original resolution? I am at my wit's end with this.

Thanks

Colin

[Stephan]

I have the same problem. Furthermore the quality of the video worsens
even if I don't convert it to mpeg but keep the avi-encoding (means I
simply draw a copy of the video from the digicam to my computer). Could
the reason be that I use a USB-connection? Could quality possibly be
improved by using a firewire-cable? Or what else could I do to keep the
good quality of the original video? I use a Sony DCR-TRV950E PAL which
does its recordings on some sort of tape.
Thanks for any hint in this matter!

st.