Newbie - ffmpeg args for transcoding 1080p to 720p, etc.

[awatelet]

On Ubuntu using ffmpeg (need to use this) trying to find a standard set of arguments to transcode a blu-ray movie to smaller resolutions using libx264 (need to use this). So 1080p to 720p, 480p, 360p.

I found the following:
ffmpeg -deinterlace -i "$IN" -acodec copy -vcodec libx264 -vpre medium -crf 25 -sws_flags lanczos -s hd720 -r 25

The file gets created with with the following but the bitrate looks way too small to me:
bitrate 1240 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und) Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1280x720 [PAR 1:1 DAT 16:9], 1237 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 50 tbc

Is there documentation somewhere that would give me this information or does anyone have a command they have used before to get blu-ray quality in the transcoded file? I am very new to video so there may be an obvious answer and appreciate any help.

[txporter]

Drop your crf value. 25 is too high. I would probably go with 21 for HD content. I normally use 19 for SD transcodes and 21 for HD.

[awatelet]

Thank you! Giving it a try.