Mac.sis making macs and S60 handsets talk

Most modern-day smartphones are also rather capable video players. Combined with a stereo headset, a portable movie player is a good alternative to a Pratchett paperback during a commute or an otherwise nonstimulant occasion, such as a distant cousin's wedding or an all-hands meeting with Tommy the Powerpoint Wizard. While the experience does fall slightly short of visiting a THX theater near you, a recent device such as the N95 can provide passable audiovisual pastime when really needed.

I have been experimenting with the following free toolchain for compressing films for mobile viewing (only DVDs that I legally own, of course):

• HandBrake (or MediaFork) for extracting the data off a DVD (for long-term storage on my Mac mini entertainment centre)
• Either iSquint or MPEG Streamclip for compressing the higher-resolution MP4 into a small H.264 encoded MP4. iSquint is intended for converting video for the video-capable iPods, but the output works just brilliantly on an N95 as well.

For the N95, I've been using the QVGA resolution of 320x240 as the target resolution, and I am currently trying to find the balance between file size and quality. With the default iSquint settings (quality set to Standard), I could squeeze a full-length movie down to approximately 260 MB, and the video seems OK on the device itself. The compression is evident when viewed on a Mac, however, but that's not the point. The MPEG compression does hit possible subtitles worse than the video itself, and I am trying to find a suitable level of tradeoffs in size and quality.

What's your toolchain for on-to-go movie compression, and what settings do you use for mobile handsets or iPods? With some input, I could try to churn out a movie compression tutorial.