Software for capturing DV thru firewire as "avi"

[patrickjos]

What's the best software (freeware or less than about $40) to use when capturing DV from a camcorder thru firewire as "avi" ?

I'm using an Adaptec firewire card. I'm capturing to a secondary HD (1.2Gigs -data only) on a 1.2Ghz Athalon w/Windows Xp. I'm using the following software for editing, re-encoding and Authoring:
Arcsoft Showbiz (editing/producing)
TMPGenc (re-encoding - ie. resize some clips to fit, etc.)
TMPGenc DVD author (authoring)

...so what should I use for capturing to "avi" ?
(incidentally, I've tried Windows Moviemaker and DVIO. If windows moviemaker is the way to go,what settings should I use? Also, why is it that when I view the captured avi in Windows Media Viewer I only see the image in a very small size -about 2"x3"? I'm not sure if this method gets the maximum quality of the DV. The adaptec firewire card comes bundled with MYDvd for capture - it does a software encode to mpeg without writing the avi; resulting video looks very good but I'm thinking that perhaps avi would be better)

Patrick

[Holden]

WinDV is free and has worked great for me. I've forgotten to turn off a capture session and it kept on working for 6 hours, filled up my hard drive with a 60GB file and gracefully closed the AVI file without crashing.

DVIO has blown up on me enough that I don't use it.

Greg

[rcb]

ScenalyzerLive might do you nicely...

[jimmyjojo]

I think Window Movie Maker is the way to go (free, easy to use, obviously Windows compatiable).

Assuming youre using version 2 (if not, upgrade NOW!), when you plug your camcorder in you should see three settings: Best Quality..., Digital Device, Manual. I reccomend capture on Digital Device (DV-AVI format) b/c it's the best quality I think and truest to form to your original DV footage. Also, I burn my stuff onto DVD, so it works out for me.

[Roll Tide]

I use DVIO almost exclusively. Never drops a frame. Very simple, tiny app that is freeware.

[patrickjos]

Thanks for the response everyone...
...I'm surprised at the high ratings that WinDV and Scenalyzer Live get from so many reviewers on this site.

Does anyone have any comments about special settings I need to be aware of when capturing in these apps - just to make sure I capture maximum possible quality video (thought I saw references to "avi1" and "avi2" somewhere etc...) ?

Patrick