Shoutbox

hey, just wondering if any of you could offer any advice.
I am looking for an alternative to nero, not for burning but the dvd creation.
I need a program that allows me to import video from my hard drive which in this case are in the form of tv episodes. Nero is great in being exactly what i want except for the fact it so slow with converting such formats as avi and mpeg to dvd quality playable in my dvd player. It also has a tendency to crash every now and again but often at important times such as following 10hrs of conversion or something.
so yea just wondering if there was an alternative that will do the same job as nero??
Also is there another or the same program that will allow video to be created in vcd format yet be burned to dvd rather than multiple cds. nero does not allow this as far as i know. and i want to be able to fit large amounts of video without it having to be converted to dvd quality which takes up more space.
Thanks
Daniel