From capture device to computer: does USB cable matter?
 

I'm setting up my very first capturing hardware workflow, but have a question about one component: the cable from the capture device to the recording laptop. Does it need to be anything specifically robust, or will any old cable do?

The capture device is a Pinnacle 710 with USB type-B (the square one) output. The laptop is a Dell with regular USB 3.0 inputs.

Is there some fancy A-to-B cable that's recommended by the gurus here? Or can I use anything from my basement box-o'-cables?

Is the Pinnacle's output large/fast enough that I specifically need a USB 3.0 cable?

Does cable length matter? I've read that shorter cables are better when transmitting an analog signal; is the same true of digital?

Any and all advice is very welcome. :) This is the last piece of the puzzle that will get me started. Thanks!

For that card, a good USB2 cable is all that is needed.
- Preferably a cable with a ferrite choke, but it's not required.
- At minimum, it should be thick enough to have good gauge and shielding, but still not required.
- 3' (feet) max length is ideal

The only danger of using a crappy cable is data dropouts (signal loss, corrupt data), or signal noise backwashing from the computer to the A/V (thereby adding noise into the audio or video). This rarely happens, but is possible.

USB2 is more than fast enough for lossless SD video. You must remember we were capturing video long before USB3 was even invented.

Thanks for the quick reply! Any specific brands you'd recommend?

The only problem is that legacy device may not work on a USB 3.0 port, may requires USB 2.0, It happened to me sometimes it works, sometimes it quits. USB 3.0 cable cannot be used anyway even if you wanted to, the square side has extra pins and different shape it won't connect to the pinnacle device.

Thanks for the heads-up on the 3.0 cable pins, Latreche!

The laptop I'm using has been tested with another Pinnacle 710, so I'm hopeful that it won't have the 2.0/3.0 hiccup you mentioned. Fingers crossed!

If anyone's curious, I ended up buying this. As soon as it arrives -- oh boy! I can start digitizing tapes at long last! :D