MPEG-2 Video Encoding any good?

Ok, so I am transferring some video footage from mini DV tapes, I'm sorta stuck on what video format I should encode the video in. MPEG-2 seems to fit best with its size and its quality, but is it a good one to choose? Will it work on as many players as AVI type of encoding? I mostly need to know if its compatible with allot of hardware.