Avi to Mpeg2, how can I make the quality better?

[IU Scott]

I downloaded many Seinfeld episodes and converted 3 of them to Avi. I then used TMPGEnc to convert them to Mpeg2. I was able to successfully burn them onto a dvd and play them in my PS2. However, they look like they need to be much smaller (the pixels are too stretched). Is there any way to make it look clearer? Also, is putting them in DVD form the best way or should I be putting them in SVCD? What are the advantages/disadvantages? I'm new at this but catch on quickly, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Baldrick]

If your source is crappy you can't do much. Garbage in - Garbage out. But you could try use lower dvd resolution like 352x480 or 352x240(within the dvd standard) if the source have low resolution.

[IU Scott]

The video looks fine on the computer when it is played through Windows Media Player. I imagine it just looks bad when it is forced to be three times the size that it was recorded in. Would upping the bitrate from 4000 to 8000 make it better? What is bitrate?