OK, new to this stuff, but seemed to have gotten it right after a few tries, except for:

Encoding a 1 hr .WMV to MPEG1 in TMPGEnc wouldn't work (froze after the first minute) w/o stripping out the audio into a separate stream. So I used dbPowerAmp to strip out the audio into a WAV file, per the instructions found here. Also used toolame as the audio encoder to improve quality (again, per the instructions)

After the encoding was complete (2 hours) I went back and viewed the mpeg out put and everything looked fine....but didn't sound fine. I lost at least 5 minutes of audio and the file is out of sync after about ten minutes.

Any ideas? Does toolame cause this? Slow hard drives (upgrades coming soon)? Couldn't find any notes under the known problems related to a problem like this. Any help appreciated.

Even though the file wasn't right, went ahead and burned the VCD just to check my burner and software (Sony Burner using software that came with it-B's Recorder). Everything worked great-the software even checks the MPEG for VCD compatability. then I found out my Samsung M101 (six months old) was VCD compliant, but won't even recognize a CD-r. Confirmed that the burned disc was good by going to Best Buy and sticking the thing in about six players-four loaded and played.

Thanks to the guys who do this site. Has done wonders for my learning curve.

Robert Lundy
St. Pete, Fla.