I just picked up a piece of hardware called "USB Instant DVD" from TigerDirect.com. It's $90 and will let you import video and convert it to burn on VCD, DVD, tape or an MPEG-2 file.
TMPGEnc is the converter I use to go to VCD or SVCD. I use Nero to do the burning. Here is a link to the site that taught me just about everything I know: