diff --git a/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1 b/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1
index 758b283a24..552288fd59 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1
+++ b/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1
@@ -7283,15 +7283,15 @@ in B-frames.
 .IPs 0
 None: direct macroblocks are not used.
 .IPs 1
+Spatial: motion vectors are extrapolated from neighboring blocks.
+.IPs 2
 Temporal: motion vectors are interpolated from the following P-frame.
 (default)
-.IPs 2
-Spatial: motion vectors are extrapolated from neighboring blocks.
 .RE
 .PD 1
-Spatial and temporal are approximately the same speed, and neither is
-strictly better than the other.
 The best choice depends on the movie.
+Spatial and temporal are approximately the same speed and PSNR,
+but temporal often looks better.
 direct_pred=0 is usually both slower and lower quality.
 .
 .TP
@@ -7315,23 +7315,21 @@ small moving objects are better represented by smaller blocks.
 4x4mv is recommended only with subq >= 3.
 .
 .TP
-.B subq=<0\-5>
+.B subq=<1\-5>
 Adjust subpel refinement quality.
 This parameter controls quality versus speed tradeoffs involved in the motion
 estimation decision process.
 It can improve quality significantly.
 .RSs
-0: halfpel only
+1: fullpixel mode decision, 1 iteration of qpel on the winner (fastest)
 .br
-1: 1 iteration of qpel on the winning candidate
+2: fullpixel mode decision, 2 iterations of qpel on the winner
 .br
-2: 2 iterations of qpel on the winning candidate
+3: halfpel mode decision, qpel on the winner
 .br
-3: halfpel on all MB types, qpel on the winner (default)
+4: qpel mode decision
 .br
-4: qpel on all
-.br
-5: more iterations of qpel
+5: qpel mode decision, more iterations (best, default)
 .REss
 .
 .TP
diff --git a/libmpcodecs/ve_x264.c b/libmpcodecs/ve_x264.c
index 6b7e58d805..d4623d9613 100644
--- a/libmpcodecs/ve_x264.c
+++ b/libmpcodecs/ve_x264.c
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ static float qcomp = 0.6;
 static float qblur = 0.5;
 static float complexity_blur = 20;
 static char *rc_eq = "tex*blurTex^(qComp-1)";
-static int subq = 3;
+static int subq = 5;
 static int psnr = 0;
 static int log_level = 2;
 
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ m_option_t x264encopts_conf[] = {
     {"qcomp", &qcomp, CONF_TYPE_FLOAT, CONF_RANGE, 0, 1, NULL},
     {"qblur", &qblur, CONF_TYPE_FLOAT, CONF_RANGE, 0, 99, NULL},
     {"cplx_blur", &complexity_blur, CONF_TYPE_FLOAT, CONF_RANGE, 0, 999, NULL},
-    {"subq", &subq, CONF_TYPE_INT, CONF_RANGE, 0, 5, NULL},
+    {"subq", &subq, CONF_TYPE_INT, CONF_RANGE, 1, 5, NULL},
     {"psnr", &psnr, CONF_TYPE_FLAG, 0, 0, 1, NULL},
     {"nopsnr", &psnr, CONF_TYPE_FLAG, 0, 1, 0, NULL},
     {"log", &log_level, CONF_TYPE_INT, CONF_RANGE, -1, 3, NULL},