Sorry for being long winded here, but since I'm about to build my new machine, I've got some questions as far as what hardware to purchase. I'm interested in the All In Wonders, but I'm not sure of their reputation. My goals are as follows:

First: Convert personal VHS and 8mm analog (from camcorder) to VCD and/or DVD

Later on: Once I get some experience, offer conversion to friends & family, then to the public as hobby & possibly extra income...

Here are my questions:

1) Are there Advantages/Disadvantages to having separate capture cards? The main advantage I see is that you can upgrade your graphics/gaming card w/o messing with your capture card. One disadvantage I see is having a greater chance of hardware conflicts because of having an additional card. I'm still weighing those two issues, but was wondering whether there is any definite way in which a dedicated caputure card will capture faster or better than an All In Wonder? Obviously a dedicated card that encodes on board would be faster and less CPU intensive than an AIW, but I'm actually wanting to compare dedicated cards that use software encoding just like the AIW does.

2) Are the AIW's the real deal or are they just a toy/gimmick? After doing some research over the last few weeks, it looks as if the thing to do is take my SVHS VCR and run SVIDEO into the AIW, encode directly to MPEG2, then edit & burn a DVD. In the end, I want the finished DVD to look as good as the original SVHS. Is this realistic using an AIW? Is there another point in the process that would prevent this level of quality?

3) The burner I'm interested in is the Sony DRU500A. Considering my eventual goal of burning for a variety of people, I like the flexibility between formats. I've read up quite a bit on this thing (including arguments for & against multi-format burners) and I still think it fits me best. Any comments?

4) My motherboard is a Soyo. Does anyone know of any compatibility issues with the AIW cards or the Sony Burner?

5) I already have an old JVC CD-R drive. Can I record VCD on it and play it on my Sony set-top DVD player? Would I be able to do this with the software package that comes with the AIW? If I can do this, then I'm thinking that it might be best to start this way. That way, I can get my feet wet with goal 1 without having to commit $300 for a the Sony burner.

Thanks for any comments!