Cheap External Capture card..

[Shawn Murphy]

I need to get something inexpensive for my girlfriend's laptop so she can capture all those VHS tapes, so, I need something with the analog ins and I guess firewire would be nice too, I'll do some searching around but wanted to know if anyone knew of anything cheap that will do the trick. Thx.

[Shawn Murphy]

Sorry for being lazy, I shoulda done more googling before posting, I've found plenty of options:

Without firewire option as low as $39.00:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814144702

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-144-702-01.JPG

...and then with firewire for around $120.00

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1111288&CatId=1428

http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/P121-3016-main2.jpg

[HorseFilms]

Go with the firewire. It'll work better.

[Shawn Murphy]

you mean choose one with firewire as the 'out' connector to the laptop? Why better, is firewire faster than USB2.0 or is there a real "quality" issue with the conversion and transmission of the data across USB vs firewire?

I also figured that she should have a firewire "in", but most of the low end stuff only has the analog RCA inputs.

[Mythfit]

USB 2.0 is actually faster then firewire, but Firewire is kinda the defacto standard for video transfer. Not saying you'll have problems with the USB, but you may avoid problems by not useing the USB connection.

Let me chack and see if I can be more vauge.

[GenJerDan]

The USB *spec* is faster. But the way the OS handles it, you're not guaranteed any particular speed.