Its a shame about packetnews, I still think its better than xdccspy :-( but it goes down too frequantly. I have been using this great tool that makes life EVEN more easy when using mIRC, its called

dccAssist - Check it out
http://blackale.host.sk/about.html

Another good page if you have problems with codecs for films.........

Lots of codecs and good discusion forums
http://www.moviecodec.com/