A DV bridge is a device that lets you transfer video clips (including audio) over 1394 ("Firewire"). It handles the capture details for you; analog sources show up as if you'd recorded them on a DV camera. If you want to pull your clips into commercial DV editors like Vegas∞ or Adobe Premiere∞, there is no faster way. Expect to pay about $250∞, though you can often find software bundles that become great deals. The downsides are cost and loss of flexibility -- you can't tune TV channels directly, you can't tweak capture settings like brightness/contrast, and you can't turn off the lossy compression. Luckily, these bridges are generally very good about setting levels properly, and DV compression is much higher quality than the MPEG used by other external capture devices [and PVR cards].

In fact, you may own a DV bridge already. Any digital (DV) camcorder with analog inputs can be used as a bridge -- all you need is a Firewire port. If you don't have one built into your motherboard, soundcard, or videocard, we sell them for $19∞.

Note: even though the lack of a TV tuner doesn't present any connectivity problems you wouldn't already face when using a digital cable/satellite box, I don't recommend a DV bridge for this purpose because there is no good TV software geared toward them. Plus, you can buy a pretty nice "real" TV for $250.


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