Video capture card or Firewire for Mini DV Tapes? - Audio/video stream recording forums

Hey guys,

Ive got some old Mini DV tapes that I'd like to convert to DVD. I know I can't get HD or even DVD quality because its a mini DV tape. However my question is which would be the best method to copy the tapes over to get the best quality?

- Use a good video capture card with RCA to go from my Video Handicam to capture into a video software program?

OR

- Use firewire from the handicam into WinDV - to get the closest quality as possible?

I found this software which is supposed to encode the output as close to DV coding as possible - http://windv.mourek.cz/

I ask this because I connected my Handicam to my tv and the tapes were playing back excellent quality. However when I hooked it up through firewire to capture the video quality wasn't as good?

Any thoughts or help please

Thanks