(This has already been posted in the general discussion, but i've hardly had any views so i feel it best be reposted here - Sorry in advance admins!)

I'm using a Dazzle DVD recorder - the thing is, the basic software that it comes with is total crap, not so much the playback quality as the time it takes to actually Burn it to disc when i Stop recording

it also only saves the files as DVD format - which sucks as i need to then convert the bloody thing

my question is
Is there any software (Free would be nice) that i can use to record from my Capture card (Such as webcam software prehaps) that will at least save it as .AVI or .WMV prehaps, and doesn't take 4 hours per 10mins of footage to bloody burn X_x - Exagerating obviously, but it still takes Ages just for a 10min recording :/ )

Any and all help would be very much appreciated.

Try AVIdemux (google it should be on first page).  It can read your DVD files and extract the video and save it as an AVI format in various codec formats like Divx (assuming you have them installed on your computer as well).  I forgot how to use it tho a little searching and reading should help you with it.  Reply back if you need anymore help.

What you're looking for is DScaler (at least I believe that it works properly with your hardware). You'll probably want to install HUFFYUV for your lossless AVI codec needs (lossless and half the size of uncompressed with pretty much no speed hit while recording).

You can encode to WMV in Windows Movie Maker later or use something like VirtualDub to go to AVI (VirtualDub looks a lot harder to use than it really is). I tend to use Nero Recode to go to MP4 because of how stupid simple and straightforward it is (I was so impressed with it that I actually bought it after my demo expired).