Well, I ended up doing some test encodes and comparing a 1 1/2 minute sequence
from Transformers.  I uncovered a few things:

1) 2-pass VBR makes a HUGE difference over 1-pass VBR at low bitrates (I didn't
compare high bitrates).

2) Using a bitrate of >3000 yields no distinguishable improvements for visually
intensive movies (Transformers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, etc)

3) A bitrate of 1500 seems enough for other movies (Love Actually, When Harry
Met Sally, etc)

4) A lower resolution (480x320) and lower bitrate (750) is sufficient for things
such as episodes of Friends, and cartoons like The Hobbit or Winnie the Pooh.

I left it encoding some movies overnight, and I'll verify them this week to make
sure that the settings are adequate.

And Tor, thanks for the links, but I'm not concerned about the final image
size so much as the minimum quality settings needed to avoid encoding
artifacts.

.....Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com

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