I've had some bad experiences using the Dazzle DVC170 (Platinum) (simply awful, stuttering and dropped frames, crashes, etc) and noticed it shared the same chipset as other, inexpensive PCI cards.

Are there brands to avoid? Specific chipsets known to cause problems?

I record live video directly to WME 9, and until a couple of months ago, it worked great with my TV Wonder Pro in Vista. Then unexplainable and baffling problems with the card showed up. How does a set up that worked flawlessly for 8 months suddenly go into the crapper? I keep the Vista machine isloated, off network-- so it wasn't an update gone awry or some malware or whatnot. It's the same as when I built it.

Anyway, I'm looking for a WDM driven capture card that uses a chipset known to work day in and day out. Suggestions?