Do USB Devices Suck For Video Capture?

I read somewhere that most USB devices are pretty bad for video capture -- for archiving VHS tape to DVD or for later editing. Is this true?

 

HI THERE.

to answer your question honestly, as a professional videographer, i can only give u my opinion about this as there is a lot of opinions on this topic.

for me, i have never had a really good success with USB2 compared to firewire.
usb2 runs at about 15% faster than firewire (or supposedly does) but i have found too many problems and inconsistencies with usb2.
in my opinion firewire is a much better transfer method from camera to pc, if you have firewire capable camcorder.
analog cameras will only have rca connection (some have s-video like mine) so u need to use a capture card or similar to get your vhs videos to your pc from your analog camcorder or vcr.
so by using s-video or rca video/audio cables, u dont need to use usb anyway, unless your using one of those horrible "dongle" digital cables that connect to your vhs device with rca cable, then to your pc with usb2 cable.
these are ok devices, but a bit outdated.

i personally dont capture vhs directly to pc, i capture vhs tape to dv tape by connecting my old vhs camcorder to my mx500 3ccd dv camcorder with s-video cable. i then throw the vhs tape aaway as i now have it stored on mini dv tape for archiving.
i then connect my dv camcorder to pc with firewire and capture the new video to my pc using a great program called sonic MyDVD, which captures your video directly in top quality 720x576 (pal) or 720x480 (ntsc) mpeg2 format and then i use mydvd to create my project and burn it to my ritek G04 dvd-r disc.

i got MyDVD with my liteon dvd burner, so im not sure where u can buy it, otherwise u need another program to do what i have just explained.

the reason i go to so much trouble with this method is i get to keep the old analog video on new mini dv tape (as my new hard copy) and reduces the storage to a bare minimum as u would no doubt understand.

anyway, good luck with it, but im sure you will continue getting mixed opinion about usb2.
for me its not reliable enough, although i do use usb keyboard and mouse (but thats about all i use it for)

good luck.....GLEN