After getting tired of the long time necessary to convert captured .avi to MPEG 2 using TEMPGEnc 2.5 and then authoring a DVD with TEMPGEnc DVD Author, I tried capturing my VHS videos using Power Producer 2 Gold through a DAC-100 and I end up with an MPEG 2 file with audio in the Dolby Digital format... which is immediately available for editing and burning 15 sec after the capture is done.

Power Producer 2 Gold has almost useless editing capability, but the captured video and audio it produces are very high quality and in sync all the way through.

I use TEMPGEnc DVD Author with the AC-3 plug-in to do any editing and to create menus from the MPEG 2 file PP 2Gold produced, then I burn the resultant .vob file to a Verbatim Digital Movie DVD+R... the results I get are indistinguisable from the VHS source, and I swear look sharper, almost the quality you'd expect from a commercially produced DVD.

This appears to be a good combination of hardware and software for converting VHS to DVD in a reasonable amount of time, however, I noticed that trying to burn DVDs with TEMPGEnc DVD aAuthor using DVDs that aren't of the highest quality results in coasters being created... I tried using Memorex 4X media, but had to go to Verbatim 4X media to get good burns.

I've completed 4 complete VHS capture to DVD projects today ( each about 110 min. in length) since 0900 and every one looks as good or better than the original,.. without a doubt TEMPGEnc DVD Author is one of the best DVD authoring programs around and for me at least a great buy.

As a test, I captured one VHS file and then used Power Producer 2 Gold to burn the project to DVD then used the same MPEG 2 file through TEMPGEnc DVD Author to burn an identical DVD... I compared both DVDs on my TV and the DVD created with Power Producer 2 Gold looked good (not quite as good as the original though), but when I ran the TEMPGEnc created DVD there was no contest... the TEMPGEnc DVD Author DVD was noticeably sharper in image quality and color and to my eyes at least, equal to or better than the VHS source.

I hope some one else will use the same software combination to capture and then author a DVD from a VHS source to see if these are repeatable results or if I'm just lucky with my hardware/software combination.