[KryptoNyte]

The Video tab - we're using H.264 which is (arguably) one of the most efficient codecs available, and usually compatible with newer devices (made in the last couple of years). EDIT: I would recommend a framerate in the pull-down menu of 29.97 (or less). The Nook Color seems to struggle with 59 to 60 frames per second in the event you have some HDTV video.

The little checkbox for 2-Pass encoding is not required. When I think about encoding all of my video files, I try to think as far forward as I can, and a little extra time and horsepower now might mean a cleaner looking video down the road as hardware improves. That said, the quality increase in 2-pass encoding is probably almost negligible. You can decide for yourself on this one, but if you have a very slow, older computer, I'd probably uncheck 2-pass as it does nearly double your encoding time to leave it checked.

My car has a turbo charger, but I never use Handbrake's turbo, not on a first pass anyways.

Average bitrate - this controls how big your final file is going to be, and how nice it looks. I would say that you could use anything between 600 and 1500 (kilobits per second, kbps) for Nook. The higher the number here, the better your final encoded video quality will be, and the larger the file will be. I have found 1100 to produce nearly perfect looking video on the Nook color screen, even in some relatively fast motion which is where the Nooks processor will start to fall down a bit. You can test different values here as much as you wish, but the range that I mentioned is probably optimal for Nook.