CyberLink is and was known for making a very good PowerDVD and Goto DVD set of DVD viewer and burner programs.
But they also released over 20 different versions of a NonLinear Editor called PowerDirector.
PowerDirector evolved quite logically from one strength to the next taking advantage of improvements in video capture hardware and processors and gpu processors in a straight line up to the present day on Windows 10. Its an unbroken chain.
They even have a version of PowerDirector for Mac, which I am only vaguely aware of.
The key module or "tab" of interest with PowerDirector is the Video Capture tab, which does a great job with Analog video as well as various Hardware assist compressed video formats (aka DV, HDV, MPEG1/2/3/4).
The SONY Vegas Non Linear Editor is known for robustness, training materials and ease of use far more than Cyberlink products.
It is possible to configure SONY Vegas to "outsource" the video capture of DV materials from its own built-in or bundled standalone VidCap6.exe program to an external program when Capture is started from within the SONY Vegas menus. -
This is done from the [Options > Preferences... > Video "tab"]
Mid-way down check the box [X] Use external video capture application:
C:\Program Files\Cyberlink\PowerDirector20\PDR.exe
When initiating the Capture process from the SONY Vegas [File > Video capture...] menu
The dialog box will note that the capturing of DV video will use an external tool and that it can be reconfigured to point at other programs, which the trick used here.. to start PowerDirector instead and perform the Analog capture first.. then the resulting video capture product file can be Imported into SONY Vegas using the Explorer Undertab in the Media Panel.
In theory VirtualDub, VLC, OBS or other custom video capture tools could be use with SONY Vegas to acquire Analog video content and Import it through the Explorer Undertab.
Its also interesting to "know" that AverMedia went a different route and wrote a Capture "Plugin" for SONY Vegas that once installed lived in the "Media Generator" Undertab plugins. Dragging and dropping the plugin on a Timeline initiated the SDK developed plugin which took that as a signal from the SONY Vegas "operating system" to display its capture window and search for AverMedia Video Capture products it knew how to use to capture video. The end result when the video was captured was a segment on the Timeline more in line with an intuitive workflow.. but functionally identical to spawning an external capture program.. which SONY Vegas itself does with VidCap60.exe.. so arguably using PowerDirector is slightly more like the normal workflow.
