[gabbott]

I also change the high profile parameters a bit, and use

Motion estimation: uneven-hexagon
Subpixel motion estimation: 9
No-fast-pskip
Trellis: 2
Analysis: all
Pyramidal B-frames: yes

I turn-on decomb also

Also as mentioned above, consider using the development releases at
http://handbrake.fr/snapshot.php

Doesn't the high profile already have decomb enabled?

[gabbott]

Be careful with the strict setting and auto crop. It will crop to the exact dimensions without making the dimensions mod8 or mod16. I have found on linux with software render that it will not scale to fit the screen even though XBMC says that it is. Its about 10 or so pixels short of the full screen.

If you use VDPAU render it will scale properly to fit the screen.

Also I use strict yet use VDPAU so that wouldn't ever be an issue in my case. With using software rendering, is this an issue with how XBMC is scaling it? If so, maybe it can be looked into why XBMC has an issue with this.