Does a 2 hour VHS tape fill a DVD

Yes.

Yes.

Those settings are only used when Nero thinks your perfecly good mpeg-2 isn't perfect, and re-encodes it again to mpeg-2, reducing quality, and usually screwing up audio sync. Please don't use Nerovision express.

Bitrate is ALWAYS set during the encoding process, either through hardware with the Hauppauge card, or with the software encoder when going from avi to mpeg-2.
The Hauppauge card, and most software that works with it, allows you to change the bitrate, thus influencing quality (see my comments above regarding bitrate and GOP). The Canopus device is a simple digitizer. It does not set bitrate, and avi bitrate is immaterial when capturing DV-AVI.
Using the calculator, running time, and bitrate, determine file size. Nothing else.

 

rebootjim- Thanks, I understood everything that you said and thanks for the tip on NeroVision -- I would never know these things if it weren't for you guys.

I have also been wondering why some of these applications like DVDLab, or TMPGEnc Author mention that you can use a 3rd party burner, such as Nero, if you like. Why do they do that. Are some burners better than others, and what do they do to make them better.

[Edit: typo error]

 

The reason I use a third party Burning program as opposed to letting DVDLab Burn the DVD is because I can not set the Burning speed in DVDLab as it allways Burns at the Max speed it can which doesn"t allways make for the Best Burns so I usually use nero to Burn the actual DVD because I can set the Burn speed to a Lower setting which makes for a More reliable Burn with less chance of Playback Problems...

Cheers

 

As I mentioned above, the DVDLab burner is a VERY basic one, with no controllable options, and prone to failure.
Although DVDLab is a superb bit of authoring software, it's not really meant to burn with.
Minion has also explained more concerning burn speed, which CAN be an issue in some cases (enough that they DO include the mention of burning with Nero).

A dedicated application for each step, usually results in a better product.
One to capture, one to encode, one to edit, one to author, and one to burn.