Assuming you are using Windows (not MAC), I would strongly recommend Video Deluxe from Magix (www.magix.com). I've tried Ulead's editing products and some time ago tried earlier versions of Adobe Premiere. The Ulead and Adobe products are relatively expensive. Video Deluxe only costs $50, so it's practically free, and it will do all kinds of slick professional stuff. You can even do some very involved audio editing with it. You can also bring in graphic files (like your slides) and use them, so you could create slide shows with it also.
I've used Video Deluxe for a while and although it is so powerful it can be daunting at first, I am very pleased with it. On top of that, if you have a question, you can email their support and they normally will get back to you within a day or two. They do try to help.
I must emphasize that for reliable video editing you need a powerful machine. I'd suggest a Pentium 4, at least 512Meg of fast RAM (not SD133 RAM), Windows XP (Home is fine) (or Windows 2000), and be sure your drives are ATA100 types 7200 rpm. And lots and lots of hard drive space...the biggest ones you can find.
I'd consider purchasing one of the DVD/VCD software packages to take the edited video and move it to VCD/DVD. I would have recommended Uleads Movie Factory, but so far every time I try to create the MPEG movie file, the audio is not included in the file, although the original movie file includes audio. Ulead hasn't been able to solve the problem so far.
Look at Computer Videomaker April 2002 issue for extensive articles about video to DVD/VCD/SVCD. Excellent source of information.
