What is the best approach....

I have a Digital 8 camcorder from Sony and Pinnacle 8 Studio program. I want to know what is the best way to capture the recording from the camcorder to the computer. What is the best setting to transfer. I transfered some home movies from the camcorder to the computer through the firewire and when I went to play it back, it stuttered from a few times a second to once every few seconds (and I tried to transfer in several different modes and it did not make a difference with the stuttering problem).
What is the resolution (or lines) is the Digital 8 capturing at anyway? Is it better to capture it to VCD format or DVD format?
I have so much more questions but I will stop for now.
Thank you in advance for any help.

Try a different capturin program. DVIO also capltures DV and it is freee. DV is the best format, although it does take up the most space.

Thank you for the suggestions.