Universal Video Codec?

Hey there, looking for some insight. I'm going to be getting an HD camcorder soon, and have decided that for the matter of simplicity, I'd like to go ahead and decide on a format in which to encode all of my videos.

I'd also like to rip my DVD's and probably in the not-too-distant future my HD-DVD's and Blu-Ray's. There also various home movies that I've never taken the time to digitize, and I don't know how much life the magnetic media has left in it.

I'm a simple kinda guy so my goal was to find the best format. I realize that nothing is going to be perfect for all scenario's, but I'm willing to trade some quality for the convenience and simplicity.

I have a WHS box with 2TB of storage so far, will add more when I need it. Capacity isn't an issue. I also have 5+ computers in the house that can share in the encoding process, so the time/energy it would take to encode isn't a concern. Also, I don't mind paying for some software to help me with this process. I like to be able to enjoy shows and movies and home movies in a convenient aspect, and I'm also trying to make things as simple on my wife/family as possible.

I'd like to keep videos as close to the original as possible. That means that converting home-movies on VHS to digital would be 480i resolution with stereo. DVD's are what, 720x480 with at most 5.1? Blu-Rays are 1080p with up to 7.1 audio. I'd like to maintain surround on the sources that have surround, but I'm fine with losing some quality. Obviously I'm not planning on keeping the TrueHD or HD-MA intact, so converting that to some sort of 5.1 is perfectly acceptable. So I need a 'standard' that will scale from pretty low quality to full 1080p with surround sound.

A couple other considerations. We have a couple of Zune's in the house, so if the video can either be portable, or be simply transcoded (given a little bit of time) that is a big plus. We are a Microsoft household with a HTPC powered by Vista Media Center (which will be upgraded to Windows 7 when that comes out). I also have the xbox 360 hooked up to the TV, so playback on that is a big plus. (I'm really looking forward to the Zune-powered xbox live marketplace, but that's another conversation for another day).

What would the recommendations be? mp4/h.264 AAC? mp3? mkv? I really look forward to some insight. Thanks.