multiple passes?

[mJohnsson]

Does more passes always mean better quality? What are passes anyway? With 2 passes I get very sharp quality, but at times there are subtle, white horizontal bands (about 30% of the screen in height) across the screen. Will a 3rd pass remove these perhaps?

[tigerman8u]

IMO no. Using 2 pass VBR analyses the video and allows a higher bitrate for high action scenes and a lower bitrate for low action scenes. This basically gives a smaller encoded file.

[mJohnsson]

Ok, thanks for your response.