2.7.6 and the last few versions conversion from mkv to avi bitrate

[tropolite]

Hi
I've used Avidemux for many years but the last few versions of 2.7.x, 64bit (Windows) is confounding me.

The problem I keep having is converting mkv's to avi's. I usually convert a mkv file and when converting I usually set a constant bitrate of an amount (say 1400) but for the last few versions the settings don't seem to be used and the result is always far smaller in bitrate than I've set (audio converts correctly). Even if I convert these using two passes there's no adherence to the nominated video output bitrate.

If I convert the file first with another app (eg Any Video Converter), it correctly converts to avi from mkv and then I use Avidemux 2.7.6 to convert the final touches and it then correctly uses the requested bitrate.

I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong so if you can fill me in that would be appreciated.

Cheers

[eumagga0x2a]

The problem I keep having is converting mkv's to avi's. I usually convert a mkv file and when converting I usually set a constant bitrate of an amount (say 1400) but for the last few versions the settings don't seem to be used and the result is always far smaller in bitrate than I've set (audio converts correctly). Even if I convert these using two passes there's no adherence to the nominated video output bitrate.

Which video encoder out of a pretty long list offered by Avidemux exhibits this problem?

What is the reason to use AVI, a container format which was obsolete already a decade ago? Why constant bitrate, the worst possible of all rate control modes (two-pass is fine if it works, of course)?