Does it make sense to use higher bitrate than source AVCHD?

[cheerful]

From camcorder at 17 or 24 Mbps, 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps.

After editing, what bit rate should I use to encode? Some suggested to use a bitrate slightly higher than source, (e.g. 18 Mbps for 17 Mbps source). Does this make sense?

Thanks!

[Baldrick]

Yep. If size is not an issue then use highest possible bitrate when you reencode for best quality. Or use constant quality encoding mode.