As explained about 14 times in this thread already, all mpeg streams have a number associated with each gop sequence (a short sequence of frames whereby the compression method repeats). This number is called the Q level or quality level. It ranges from 1 to 100 where 1 is "basically identical to the original frame." Most professional movies end up with a Q level between 3 and 5, so it is relatively close to the original uncompressed source. My Star Wars set, even in single layer form, has a Q of about 2 on average. This number does not lie... it tells you exactly the amount of picture quality lost due to compression, and the amount lost due to compression is less than what most dual layer hollywood DVDs have to go through.

In other words, artifacts you see were there before I even compressed it, which means it was probably on the LD itself and not something I did in the process of finishing the video.