Unless I know I'll be solely working in Vegas, I'll just use the HDV capture utility - it's still pretty broken but works for quicker turn around.

If I'm working on the mac too, I'll capture, transcode into ProRes (on Mac) and work with those files on both machines.

cheno

For DV capture: Scenalyzer.

It has a HUGE number of advantages over anything else, which I long ago summarized in this thread:

Scenalyzer Features

Scenalyzer here.

Primarily because it will name the actual DV files as per the shoot date/time. I can then keep track of the appropriate chronology of events which is a frequent requirement for me.

With this date/time filename ability, one could also take footage from multiple cameras, dump it all in the same directory/folder and it is (correctly) sorted chronologically. Makes things easy when brought into Vegas and placed in the timeline. All is in order.

Also, being able to index the DV tapes makes finding stuff later much easier.

Excellent program. Used it for years.

Ditto.

For HDV stuff the closest cousin in HDVSplit. It names clips based on shooting time and date, though that's about all it does.

I mentioned time lapse from Scenalyzer. I shared a time lapse that I did with Scenalyzer many years ago. I just found it in an old archive and wondered if I could share it directly using Photobucket, rather than using YouTube. Here's the link and we'll see if it plays (this is more of a test for me, since I don't think the original poster had any interest in time lapse):

http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w208/johnmeyer/?action=view&current=Timelapse.flv

[edit] well that answers the question: Photobucket videos do not embed; only YouTube and Grouper videos. No big thing, you click and it takes you to Photobucket and it plays immediately.

For DV, I've never had any problem with Vegas VidCap. However, I use Scenalyzer for all the reasons that have been mentioned, primarily the file naming options. There is absolutely no difference in the video quality using either application.

For personal DV and DVCAM:
Sony's included vidcap.

For work XDCAM:
Sony's FAM and PDZ. (while not really a capture but disk access and wrapper)

Both seem to work fine without problems.