I prefer to capture with a firewire bus device since it is independent of the processor and uses its own power source. I have an ADVC-100 which has S-Video and Composite inputs and outputs. This device is external and connects to the PC with a firewire cable. The only disadvantage is that it only captures in DV which has its limitations with color compression. I never really notice it, but I've heard others complain. This device would be perfect if it could also capture raw AVI and MPEG-2.