[MPlayer-users] mencoder: increasing bitrate doesnt increase quality or filesize...why?

[Farrell Farahbod]

im compressing a file, with the following command:

mencoder file.vob -aid 128 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:
vbitrate=2000:vhq:v4mv:qpel:vpass=1 -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=96 -
vop scale=640:352 -sws 2 -o file-compressed-1.avi -ofps 23.976 &&
mencoder file.vob -aid 128 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:
vbitrate=2000:vhq:v4mv:qpel:vpass=2 -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=96 -
vop scale=640:352 -sws 2 -o file-compressed-2.avi -ofps 23.976

and it results in a ~1.2GB file... which is ok... but i have budgeted
1.4GB for it...and well, i might as well eek out the most i can, to get
the best possible movie. i tried increasing the bitrate to even 3000,
with no increased quality or file size...why? does it have to do with
the line at the end of the compression that reports something to the
effect of "video bitrate: 1497" (i dont recall the exact wording,
sorry).

does mencoder max out at a 1497 or so bitrate??
or is it codec related?
in either case, why?

i know there has to be a way to increase the quality... is increasing
the number of keyframe with "keyint=xyz" my only option?

lastly, is lavc/mpeg4 the best codec solution for compressing dvd-rips?
is divx/xvid better? (iirc, theyre just hacked versions of mpeg4,
right??) ... time is not much of a problem, so even if a different codec
takes longer to compress, i don't mind.

thanks,

--farrell "upgrdman" farahbod