As you can see TMPGEnc is compatable with Windows XP. When first opened the prgrsm will look like this

Firstly you Browse for your video and audio source. If the source has both video and audio the audio will automatically be filled.

As the picture shows i am ripping using the dvd 2 Avi method
Once the Video and Audio source have been selected you need to choose a template or configure the settings. I would suggest that if you are a beginner choose a template until you know what each setting does.

There are several templates in the package for both PAL and NTSC. To download more click here.
Next click on settings and we have to make some choices. Firstly what rate control method. whether we want CQ (Costant Quality), 2VBR (2 pass varible Bitrate), MVBR (Manual Varible Bitrate), CQ_VBR (Constant Quality with a varible bitrate) etc. 2 pass is the slowest method b/c it has to do 2 passes taking 12 hours on my athlon 1800XP for a movie 1:50 long. Most of the other take between 4-6 hours so you can see the difference. The choice is up to you but i would recommend either th 2 pass or CQ_VBR but this depends on how many cds you want to put it on. Remember to check out the download sector for the bitrate calculators. Next Motion search precision choice has to be made. Never choice very fast, fast or motion estimate as the will give you poor quality. I would recommend to use very slow which is the highest quality setting but it does make the process longer.

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Next click on the advanced tab and make sure you have the correct ratio selceted in the advanced settings i.e. 16:9, 4:3 and PAL or NTSC.

TIP.....DVD 2 Avi and Smartripper gives you this.

For more information on the advanced settings clock here

For more guides go to vcdhelp.com