Trying to create a process for creating home movies reliably and need help

[Arphahat]

After planning on doing this for five years(!), I finally got around to ripping my old home movie VHS tapes to my computer. A friend had an used copy of "Pinnacle Studio 9 ATI version" that did an awesome job ripping the files. It is easy to create menus and I was able to burn a disc without trouble. Unfortunately, it seems to have broken and can no longer determine the correct size of my project (insisting that it is too large to fit on a DVD).

To get around the above issue, I have been experimenting with some other tools that I think I like more. I will describe what I am doing and would love input and suggestions on better methods or tools I could use.

I can create DVD images from Studio 9. I read in the large AVI files that I ripped from the VHS tapes, select the clips I am interested in and then let it render the files for me at a low (3000) KBits/sec rate (since it is VHS, it doesn't look like I lose any quality doing this.) I configure it to "create dvd files only/ don't create disc" and then I have files to work with.

With DVD Styler, I can create a menu and burn a DVD. But, to fit everything I want onto one disc, I need to create several smaller DVD images and then combine them. If I want a small number of entries in my menu, this will work fine, since I think I should just be able to copy and rename the "VTS_01_X.XXX" files to "VTS_02_X.XXX" files. But, I would like to have many more internal chapters accessible from the menu.

I want to hear from anyone who has a process they like. Or, if you have tips, suggestions, things I should read, etc, I would also love to hear from you.

[MysticE]

then let it render the files for me at a low (3000) KBits/sec rate (since it is VHS, it doesn't look like I lose any quality doing this.)

I don't know what you are watching them on, but 3000 Kb/s for mpeg-2 sounds awfully low. I would think that least around 4800, which would allow about 2 hours per disc would be the minimum.