I am able to successfully rip DVD to beautiful quality VCD using Smart Ripper, DVD to AVI, TMPGEnc and NERO.

I can also record MPEG2 video from my satellite recv'r on my DV camcorder, capture it on my PC via my IEEE1394 port, edit out commercials (with Ulead VideoStudio), and dump it back to my camcorder with beautiful results.

However, if i convert my captured DV video to VCD format, and use Nero to burn the VCD to disk, the picure quality is mediocre at best. Many artifacts are visible, and the picture just looks funny. Would it be best to capture the satellite signal directly to the PC and eliminate the camcorder stage? Or are there any known settings in TMPEng I need to concern myself with to produce a better VCD product?