While the vast majority of video recording is now digital, there are still plenty of recordings stored in analog formats and I know a handful of people who refuse to give up their Hi8 camcorder in favor of DV. If you still record in analog, or simply want to transfer your analog recordings to a digital format, the most common interfaces for video transfer are USB. One of the key things to identify before getting started in transferring videos via USB is knowing whether your computer’s USB ports are USB 1.1 or USB 2.0. The older standard, USB 1.1 is slow, at about 12 mbps, and rapidly fills up with too many connected peripherals like mice, keyboards, Webcams, etc. If you’re importing video over USB, all these parts translate to a clogged USB bus, which can translate to dropped video frames and a lousy video capture experience. USB 2.0 is approximately 40 times faster than USB 1.1 at 480 mbps, solving most problems related to having too many peripherals competing for a very limited bandwidth. So how do you know which version you have? Check the details in the Windows Device Manager. It’s not as obvious as it should be, but my latest free tutorial on USB version detection provides a foolproof way to find out. If it turns out you’re still using USB 1.1, consider adding a USB 2.0 card for under $15. After you know which version you have, step through the quick list of USB video capture tips before starting your video project or download a copy of Converting VHS to DVD, which covers all the steps for taking VHS, Hi8 and other analog video formats to DVD.

[tags]usb,dvd,vhs,video capture[/tags]