Video DVD Authoring Torture

Pinnacle Software Studio 10 Plus promises so much and delivers an IOU on a post-it note. I bought the software with a video input device thinking I would transfer all my video tapes to DVD thus making me feel better about getting the VHS gremlin out of my house. This was over a year ago. I made a few DVDs as a test and it worked well, just a bit slow in the rendering. Version 9 went to version 10 which cost me a few bucks but it promised HD editing and speed increases. The next patch promoised PSP rendering and better HD editing. I never explored the PSP because I bought a Sony HD1 camcorder which takes beautiful HD clear videos. I want to burn them onto DVD but during my final patch 10.5.2 I can't create a DVD now, it stops rendering with the message 'error rendering' with no explanation or excuse. I had an issue with it creating coasters a month or two ago that ended up being Nero and Pinnacle spat. I removed Nero since I wasing using it anyway and Pinnacle sat there looking all uppidy. Pinnacle's forums made me go into a fit of depression after reading that ver10 and up is hit or miss if it will ever work properly. The beta 10.6(and a long string of numerals) doesn't sound like it solves anything. So without thinking of the $250+ dollars I have invested through the original purchase of the hardware/software combo, upgrades and add-ons I've purchased in the last 1+ year I am now looking into Ulead Media Pro 10 which I read one or two good opinions of the product. However, they go through the same dance as Pinnacle which means multiple flavors, add-ons, combo-packs to really confuse the crap out of anyone who doesn't work for Ulead. I hate when a company offers Product A, Product A Plus, Product A Turbo, Product A Professional, Product A (some alloy usually gold and silver but now their is platnium and Titanium), Product A Version 10 and so it repeats. The product does have a download trial option which I may take advantage of but I am a bit scared of trying to install it along side of Pinnacle which has taken over the care and feeding of my Sony DL DVD writer. Before I scrap Studio 10 though, I'm gonna give it a nother try from scratch. New capture, no editing, no menu and see how/if it transfers then work from there.