Hello all,

Still a bit of a newborn when it comes to encoding, so please have patience... I recently purchased DVD Copy Plus from 321 Studios, which basically is Smartripper, DVDx and PowerCDR Express wrapped in a Flash interface. First mistake? Aren't these programs usually free (such as DVDx)? Anyways, I tried to follow their less than informative tutorial and ventured out to back-up on one of my hundreds of DVD's
The ripping process was fairly simple (after installing the latest ASPI drivers), but according to the tutorial, I shouldn't have to adjust any settings in Smartripper (other than setting a target location). After firing up DVDx 2.0 and configuring the Divx 5 Pro codec I purchased with a "Divx Newbie Guide" I found here in the forums, I successfully made a decent looking, 2-CD back-up of Saving Private Ryan. All is well, or so I thought...
I've found that certain movies have an audio problem that can best be described as a "drop-out" every few seconds that lasts for no more than a minute or two. This usually occurrs in the first chapter. I've tried numerous Lame configurations, along with switching Audio/Video Synch on/off. The tutorial mentions nothing about audio problems, nor does 321's support FAQ. I figured posting a message here would yield better results than their tech support. Anyways, a prime example of a movie that has this problem is "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" Besides my Divx settings:

Input Settings:

DeMacrovision checked
Dolby Surround checked
Track: English AC3 6ch (0x80)
Normal Quality 4, Volume 3
23.976 (NTSC)
Detect prog. 24Hz checked
Force 24Hz checked
iDCT SSE2 (Intel P4)
Audio / Video synchronisation checked

Output Settings:

Lame MP3 3.92 MMX (192Kb/s 44.1KHz 16Bits Q3
Divx Pro 5.0.2 Codec (if relevent, I'll post these settings)
Resolution 352x288
Zoom: None (Letter Box 4/3)
Resize: Bicubic SSE/3D Now+

I'll be happy to post more info if asked specifically. With these settings, as well as numerous variations will produce an audio drop-out every few seconds specifically in the first chapter. I've tried these settings on three other machines (one P3 and two other P4's...all WELL above par) with the same results. Tried this morning on my main machine: a P4 1.6, Asus P4t-e, 1024MB PC800, 3 Maxtor 80GB ATA/133 drives, Creative 16x DVD-Rom, Sony 24x10x40 CD-RW, nVidia GeForce4 ti4600, SB Live! X-Gamer, running Win2k Pro SP3. Certainly, this box has the juice for this task. I've searched for guides and faq's pertaining to this specific audio problem, and all I've come across was synching and popping remedies. Now, I'm sure I'm not the only guy that's come across this. Is there a prog that can actually fix this?