What DVD to VCD Ripper has the best picture Quality?

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I have some DVD's that's not copy protected and want to convert or
transcode/rip to the best quality VCD I can. I know of some programs
like Intervideo DVD Copy and IC8 but they don't give the quality
I've seen on some VCD's. One sample VCD I downloaded from the internet
looks great with very little quality issues. The picture quality was so
good it looks like regular TV quality from cable. That's what I want.

I'm sure some VCD encoder codecs can give the same quality as that sample.
I've lost the web address or I would email the site to findout what they used.

I did hear that WinDVD copy gives good results.

Please post any results you have with programs you have tried.
I don't mind loosing detail as long as it's pleasing and looks
like a TV broadcast and not blocky. The DVD's are very high quality
so the source is good.

Also What's the max. length video you can put on a 700MB CD-R for
DVD quality? I heard a max of 2 hours and it then degrades quickly
so that a 2 and 1/2 hours or more it looks really bad.