I just bought a Panasonic PV-GS19 Camcorder that is both USB 2 ("full speed" ) and Firewire equipped, but I have neither supported by my Dell Dimension 8200 so I need your advice. Since my research on these boards seems to indicate that the combo Firewire & USB 2 cards don't get along well with Win XP Pro, I'm stuck to choose which is better (faster, et al)? Besides chosing between those two, does it matter what brand of card I buy?

Thank you in advance,
GBO

USB 2.0 is more flexible (supported by more devices) but I prefer firewire whenever possible.

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Usually on Camcorders the USB connection is for reading the flash card that hold snapshots and the firewire is for video transfers. If you plan on transfering video you should probably get firewire

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Firewire still has a higher sustained transfer rate, noticably with files >50mb. The only thing I like usb2 for is motherboards all have it now, as well as cases support it not via the front panel. Makes it convenient plugging the memory stick in to get some files.

You definitely want to stay away from "combo cards". Firewire is the way to go.