Just a couple of notes:

Quote Originally Posted by zelda180
Great your FFmpeg version is the same as mine so far we are on the right page. Lets start with the first question...
ffmpeg and ffmpeg-php do not necessarily follow the same version numbers. Most hosts install ffmpeg from SVN which does not have a version number at all. Generally speaking, if your ffmpeg was built after 2008, it does not have vhook.

Quote Originally Posted by zelda180
I personal use menplayer because some say it gives better results.
This used to be true for a few file types (specifically WMV and FLV files). However, this is no longer the case. I would argue that ffmpeg actually gives you better still thumbs than does mencoder. Today, the only real thing that mencoder has over ffmpeg is speed (mencoder can generate files faster than ffmpeg). But, with that speed comes considerable quality loss, which is why I prefer to use ffmpeg for all conversions altogether.