So it looks to me like you've been using your camcorder's 'pass-thru' capability to capture your videos. Not bad.....it should be the best combination you've tried. However, many times I find it more convenient to use a hardware device that will allow me to capture directly into MPEG2 format. ADS Instant DVD+DV device has both analog (SVHS andRCA) and digital inputs and it connects to your PC via USB. Since this device has built in MPEG2 hardware compression the encoding takes place in real time and the quality is quite good even at a lower bit rate like 5.5 MB/s. I don't know where you live but in the US you can get this for about $190. My favorite device is made by Canopus.....MPEG PRO EMR. This device has similar capabilities as the ADVC300 except that, it captures in MPEG2 format...it has TBC, noise filtering etc. It only has analog input though but it's still very 'usable'. Kind'a expensive though...about $500 but the quality is par to none. If you can't afford this keep on using the pass-thru method and then convert your footage to MPEG2......ypu can even record to DV tape first and then capture to the PC....an extra step but works OK.