MKV H.264 settings

[stiltman]

I'm wondering if someone can take a look at this. It's a query generated by Handbrake.
Just wondering if I can tweak it to some thing better? Normally I use Xvid in an avi wrapper, but I'm switching over to H.264 in a MKV. I don't have much experience with H.264. It will be played on a 42" plasma via a WDTV player. I forgot to add, I'm looking for best results, aka least blocking and artifacts, as long as it's less than the original mpeg2 size.

-i "C:\DVD Rip\TEST_DVD\VIDEO_TS" -t 1 -c 1-29 -o "D:\Movies\TEST_DVD no cropping.mkv" -f mkv --crop 0:0:0:0 -p -e x264 -q 0.65 -a 1 -E ac3 -B 160 -R 0 -6 dpl2 -D 1 --markers="C:\Temp\VIDEO_TS-1-chapters.csv" -x ref=3:mixed-refs=1:merange=24:no-dct-decimate=1 -C 4 -v

Here's a screenshot of the advanced settings

[usta]

I would add/change (all aimed to increase quality with the expense of time needed to encode):
B-Frames: 6
Motion Estimation Method: Uneven Multi-Hexagon
Subpixel Motion Estimation: 9
8x8 DCT: check
Trellis: 1
No Fast P-Skip: Check

[stiltman]

Why add B-Frames?

Yeah, I'm not worried about encode time. I usually add 3 or 4 to the que and then let it go

Would it be better to crop the non-movie areas or leave it as is? I noticed if I crop, it'll use a little less bitrate, and resulting file is a little smaller.

[usta]

B-frames can use both previous and forward frames for data reference. This will achieve better data compression (smaller file size).

If I use crop (especially with autocrop), then my videos do not end up with the "standard" resolution, say 720x400. Then again, the encoder doesn't have to process the "useless" black borders.