You don’t want to use MEG1 for DVD’s (you need MPEG2 for that) but for VCD’s MPEG1 is limited to the low bitrate of 1150kbps. You can try another encoder like TEMPEnc, which is only around $50. It does a really nice job and there is a free trial download. Don’t expect too much from VCD though. You might want to try SVCD, which is MPEG2 and up 2520kbps. I’d been making VCD’s and SVCD’s for 2 years before DVD burners came down in price. There were times when I was happy with my SVCD’s but I was never really happy with my VCD’s. I’ve never used Media Cleaner but I do know that the cleaner the source, the cleaner the encoding. So your friend is right... but the price might not be. ;-)

~jr