I'm still doing some test encoding, but it appears that on my Apex 1500 kvcdx3 mpeg-1 encodes (544x480) look much better than mpeg-2 encodes (544x480). Anyone know what this is the case? I'm using avi sources and no avisynth filters for now (just Gripcrop and Gripborders).

On my rear projection 53" TV the mpeg-1 encodes are much sharper, whereas the mpeg-2 have visible scan lines and generally look "jaggy" (but not pixelated or excessive DCT).

Is anyone surprised by this?

No
MPEG-1 is better than MPEG-2 at lower bit rates

-kwag

Thanks once again kwag.

I use CQ with min bit rate 300, max 2500 with padding. Is this low bit rate? Both high and low action scenes look better with mpeg-1 to me.

If you look at the average bit rate of your movie, it will probably be ~1,000Kbps. At that rate, MPEG-2 looks pretty aweful
Get bitrate viewer here: http://www.tecoltd.com and check your created mpeg file. You'll see what your average bit rate is

-kwag

For a couple of the test encodes I've done using KVCDx3 mpeg-1 the average bitrate was around 1500 and 1800, but this was with relatively high CQ's that only give around 60-70 minutes per CD.

Thanks for the help, kwag.