Fast(er) video recode programs

Any Noobs know .. or can point me in the direction of good fast recode programs that don't eat up all the machines CPU usage.. and take hours to convert..

I already have Nero.. Intervideo win DVD and DivX.. all good but take up so much CPU.. DivX I find most usable to crunch vids to less than 700MB and is excellent for burning more files to DVD CD..

Just wondered.. Think I might be asking more than machine is capable of..

Danke Shone..

they don't exist, even in the linux world:mad-pound:
faster ones tend to use more CPU/RAM.
faster codecs tend to give less than optimal results.

faster CPUs(dual-core) and better OSes are the trend

give Doom9 (http://forum.doom9.org/index.php) a visit for the best answers

Nero or WinAVI > all

I use DVD Santa to convert and Intervideo DVD Copy 3 to burn. Not sure why it would matter about the CPU usage since you shouldn't use your PC for anything else while converting.

DIVX or Windows Movie Maker, Windows was like lightning fastcompared to Adobe Premier

Thanks guys.. All taken on board.. I knew that when recoding nothing else on the machine would happen.. Just a pain in the arse innit.. and thought there might be a new thang out there that I had'nt heard about yet...

Fenk hew again me dearies.. I'll continue to recode overnight wiv the usual suspect n hope that there's a wee blokie/lassie out there programmin like a weee programmer.. lol...

Noticed that when using DivX it gets to the 50% mark recode then seems to stick there.. anyone gime a clue as to why..?? it is still working.. but the program values seem to stick at 50%..

Was gonna suggest checking o0ut Doom9 but silverdooty beat me too it. The only faster stuff I've heard of are hardware capture cards.