Usably fast s/w with long (1+ hour) MPEG-2 sourcefiles?

[miamicanes]

Are there *any* programs comparable to Ulead DVD Movie Factory 2 that can handle long (1+ hour) MPEG-2 sourcefiles without choking on them?

It appears that both Ulead products have a fairly naive algorithm for handling long clips that basically parses the entire clip from its starting point to the point of interest *every single time*, instead of caching a smaller chunk of the surrounding area somewhere and using *that* for frame-to-frame editing previews. The result is that trying to find the right spot to put the lead out, or pick a preview frame, or create a chapter, literally takes 20-60 seconds to recover from *any* attempt to move forward or backward by one frame, one second, or whatever.

I don't think my needs are all that demanding... basically, I have a bunch of videos on VHS that I'm capturing to 1/2 DV-1 (VBR, around 3-4mbit/sec) using ATI MMC 7.7. The general workflow is:

* rewind the tape, start the tape, tell ATI MMC to record for 2 hours, and walk away.

* do it 1 or 2 more times with additional tapes

* Use the authoring software to create a track for each captured tape

* set the lead-in and lead-out for each track to trim out the junk/noise at the start and end of each track

* for each track, set chapter points at suitable locations

* ideally (though I could live without it), spend a few minutes making a halfway decent menu page, and chapter page for each track with a thumbnail from each scene

* burn it to DVD

DVD Movie Factory 2's user interface and concept is nearly perfect. Unfortunately, the way it handles long clips makes it just about unusable. Last night I spent close to an *hour* just trying to mark the lead-out points for three tracks... (nudge) (wait 20-40 seconds) (nudge) (wait 20-40 seconds) ... (nudge) (shout unprintable vile obscenities) ...

Are there any other better alternatives in the sub-$100 price range? I looked at Nero's app, but unfortunately there's no way to test it without actually buying the MPEG-2 plugin up front. Can it do more or less the same thing, without choking on the endpoints of long files?

[miamicanes]

Well, I just did a little experiment, and discovered that DMF-2's problem lies SPECIFICALLY with VBR-encoded MPEG-2 sourcefiles. It seems to do fine with CBR.

So... I guess the updated thread topic should be, "Are there any sub-$100 authoring apps comparable to DVD Moviefactory 2 that won't choke on long VBR-encoded MPEG-2 files?"