Help w/ XVCD's ??? Panasonic DVD-RV31U-K

[SHARP^C]

Im trying to figure out the ideal bitrate to encode my dvd rips at. I downlaoded the xvcd at http://www.dvd-wizards.com/vcdhelp/XVCD-NTSC-2500kbit-352x240.zip and it played like a dream it was very smooth and clear. Then riped a copy of the 6th sense and took a 15 sec portion out for testing purposes. I encoded 20 different mpegs all with the same specs of (size: 352 x 240, Aspect ratio: 3:4 525 NTSC, frame rate: 23.976, Constant bitrate, VBV: 40, video arange method: center(custom) 320 x 180, and inverse telecine: on). the only thing i changed was the bitrate i started a 500 kbit/sec and went up to 2500kbit/sec. All but the 2500kbit/sec track played ok. The 2500kbit/sec track was pretty jerky. The other tracks had very brief but noticable pauses every 2 or 3 seconds. It seemd like the pauses where least noticeable on the track at encoded at 1000kbit/sec. so my qestions are

1. Why did the downloaded xvcd at 2500kbit/sec play wonderful and the ripped one play jerky?

2. Why Are The Tracks encoded at lower bitrates even 500kbits/sec playing with small pauses every 2 to 3 seconds? Could it be because the clips are only 15 sec long and the dvd player hasnt had time to "warm up" ??

3.Is there a way i can correct the small pauses it if it isn't being caused by the shortness of the tracks.

4. If possible how could i get my rips to play smoothly at 2500kbit/sec or something around that.

5. Can anyone recomend anyhing that they think i should be doing differently ?

Im sorry this post is soo long im new to the world of vcd, if you have the time to respond to this post I would greatly appreciate it.

[Chopper Face]

Have you tried doing it in 352x240 instead of 325x180? I've never tried such a size myself. If your sample works fine maybe that's the problem.

[SHARP^C]

Chopper Face thank you for your post,The mpeg i made was 352 x 240. The 352 x 180 is the video arrange method so the the mpeg is 352 x 240 with a box of video 352 x 180 inside of it and black surroundinf it. I guess this could still be a problem so i will try setting it back to regular size.
Thanx