I have a large number of vhs videos with motorsport on them .I was originally going to transfer them to dvd using an 'adaptec avc-2210, using 'sonic mydvd software' but I recently purchased an 'Iomega screenplay pro 300gb' hard drive as i thought it would be less storage space and easier to access what I want .the Iomega is like mini media player and plays video formats mpeg1 , mpeg2(avi,vob,iso) and mpeg4(avi,divx,xvid) .I have used the adaptec unit with the sonic software to make a video recording and then transferred it to the iomega hard drive but the problem is that when I play the file through the T.V. I have no sound ,I have been told it is something to do with the file format that the sonic software uses ,so what i really want is info on what the best encoder is to use that will encode into mpeg2 that will save onto the Iomega hard drive and play ok and doesn't use a proprietry dvd burning software ,I don't mind software that I can use to edit with. I am using a Acer laptop with windows xp , its not very fast but I will be patient .thanx RIC .