Firewire card for DV capture (and DVD creation) : HERCULES versusADS Tech

It seems that the 2 following firewire cards are cheap and good for DV
capture with standard software like Ulead Video Studio or Pinnacle
Studio DV :
- HERCULES "DV Action! DVD Edition",
- ADS Tech "Pyro Basic DV".

Has someone already used one of these boards under Windows XP ?
Has someone already used one of these boards under Linux Mandrake 9.2 ?
Has someone already used one of these boards with a SONY TRV-25 PAL
camcorder ?

It seems that Pinnacle Studio DV software is not reliable. Does it have
a real advantage in comparison of Ulead Video Studio (version 7) ? In
other words, is Ulead Video Studio 7 the best "cheap and good" video
software to capture DV, edit video, author DVD and burn it ?

Is 512 MB RAM absolutely necessary (I have 256 MB RAM with an Athlon
1700+ and a NVIDIA nForce chipset driver) to handle video (capture,
edit, process, etc) ?

Thanks.

 

Between those cards - it does not matter. As for the software, try
downloading trials of them and have a play. I have been using Pinnacle
Studio for a long time and like it for its simplicity - it was very easy to
learn for me, and at that time, I found it more feature packed than Ulead.
But, many people have many bugs with it - which I've learned to solve.