For everyone except pros -- use TMpgenc to do the encoding. It is the best program for this BY FAR unless you want to learn the technical details. Then use Nero to burn the encoded file.
If you really want to get your hands dirty, the next step up from TMPGenc is CCE (CineCraft Encoder). It's unstable, costs about $2200 more, has bugs in audio encoding, gives you complete control over every aspect of the mpeg2 stream (not necessalry always a good thing), but produces the best encodes out there by far IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
-Chu, encoder for 2+ years.