New to this so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Q1. To transfer DV tape from GL2 to PC I need a 1394 card such as Adaptec AFW-4300 Host Adapter.

Q2. Use software such as Adobe Premiere Pro to control the transfer and editing.

Q3. If Q1 is correct the do I still need a capture card and what does it do?

Thanks,
James

No, you do not need a capture card if you have a firewire card (the Adaptec AFW-4300 for instance).
Capture cards are used for capturing analogue video, or some can convert the AVI straight to MPEG2 and such.

Q1. To transfer DV tape from GL2 to PC I need a 1394 card such as Adaptec AFW-4300 Host Adapter.

-- Yes, or any other OHCI-compliant firewire card

Q2. Use software such as Adobe Premiere Pro to control the transfer and editing.

-- Yes

Q3. If Q1 is correct the do I still need a capture card and what does it do?

No, you only need the firewire card to transfer the digital data from camcorder to PC.

Thanks for clear this up.

A follow-up question:

In general, a 60 minutes DV will take up how many disk space?

about 13GB. remember to keep extra hours around for exporting your final project if need be.

adam wilt's DV FAQ has detailed information on how much space DV takes (it depends on a few factors), but 13GB/hour is close enough for practical purposes.

James,

The term "capture card" can be used for any PCI card used to transfer data from your camera to your PC. There are a number of different types available that have varing levels of functionality. First you have the basic 1394 card, like the Adaptec, that simply provides a link between your camera and the computer. These work with Avid Express DV/Express Pro, Premiere Pro, Edition, and Vegas.

Second are NLE accelerator cards like the Canopus Storm, Matrox RT.X100, and Pinnacle Edition Pro. These cards provide a link between your camera and PC, analogue inputs/outputs, and improved RT functionality. These cards come with either Premiere Pro/6.5 or their own NLE application.

Third there are high end capture cards like the Canpous RexRT and dpsVelocityQ which offer more inputs, more RT functionality, and handle more video formats. These both come with their own NLE apps.

There are also stand-alone devices like the Avid Mojo which is basically a hardware accelerator that provides I/O options and better RT functionality for Avid Express Pro.