Yes, I used the Orange Micro---I think it has a TI chipset and has worked fine.

OK, the Orange Micro site has aN "OrangeLink Video Editing Kit for Notebooks" for 49.00. Looks like an expansion card with 3 firewire connections. It includes video editing software, so would it not be safe to assume it is for capture? Or would I need to buy a capture device as well? I edit projects pretty nicely when I'm set up, it's the hardware issues I suffer through...sure do appreciate the help and suggestions!

That card will let you capture a DV stream from a digital video device. This device can be a DV camcorder or DV deck. It can also be an external A/V -> DV converter. This card will not capture directly from analog sources such as a VHS VCR or camcorder.

What is the source you will be capturing from?

$49.00 sounds awfully high. I got a Lucent card for about $25 and that was a few years ago. They should be cheaper now.

I capture from both DV camcorder and analog. I can't find the cord to try the DV camcorder directly to the card.

That $49 ticket was about the cheapest I could find; Best Buy and Circuit City were looking for 60-80 bucks a pop. Anyway, I'm trying out a Adaptec firewire expansion card and a ADS Tech Pyro A/V Link converter. Somewhere else on this forum I read about a dropped frame problem with that unit, and sure enough, 60 seconds of capture and I had 800 dropped frames. I got a call into ADS, as the other poster of whom I spoke mentioned a fix.

If anyone can recommend another capture unit, now that I have the firewire expansion card I think I'll have more options. Please advise of a unit that will work well with Vegas (I'm so behind!) BTW, the ADS literature states it has been tested successfully for Vegas.

Most people here prefer the ADVC-100 but if you've got the dollars and depending on the quality of your source material the ADVC-300 which I have is worth the money.
Another alternative is to buy a DIgital 8 camera, nearly as good as the ADVC-300 and you might pickup a second hand one very cheaply, even if the lens / CCDs are cactus you've scored an A <-> D converter with DNR and TBC plus a way to play 8mm, Hi8 and D8 tapes.

Bob.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into those two units. Better than half of what I'm currently doing though is transferring VHS so the latter wouldn't help me out.Thanks a bunch!

The latter would help enormously.

You just use the D8 camera as an A<->D converter as you would the ADVC-300 or 100.

Bob.

So would I somehow plug the VCR into the Digi8? I've got a MiniDV camcorder and an old 8mm.

That's right. Plug VCR into A/V inputs on D8 camera, enable A/V input in camera menu, connect firwire between D8 and PC, disable device control in VidCap and you're away.

You should be able to do the same thing with MiniDV camera except MiniDV cameras don't have TimeBase Correction or Digital Noise Reduction like D8 cameras. With pristine VHS maybe not such an issue. With wobbly tapes it can become a BIG issue as it really distracts the mpeg encoder if you're trying to convert to DVD.

Also the D8 camera will play your 8mm tapes.

Bob.