Do not use a Black magic card, those have many problems with VHS video.
The larger the project size, the more you'll run into problem tapes, so the more important a quality VCR is. Quality starts with the VCR, so you don't want something from the thrift store, nor something you dug out of a closet/attic/basement. At minimum, a good JVC/Panasonic non-TBC S-VHS deck is where you want to be.
Converting video is yields either good or bad quality. There's really no "best". It's somewhat binary (bad, good with artifacts/noise, good without artifacts/noise), not a grading scale like comic books. Getting to good has a few narrow paths, and all require forms of TBC.
That "60p" VHS Youtube video is starting to get on my nerves. If you follow it, you'll make bad video, the end. That Youtuber doesn't know what he's doing, and is giving horrible advice to newbies. Bad card, no TBCs, bad
VirtualDub settings, wrong terms being used. What a mess.
ES15 is a compromise, a minimalist TBC(ish) that has a fail rate. But it's the best of the "not a real TBC" pieces of hardware. It makes a viable art of a good workflow. It's strong+crippled line TBC with non-TBC frame sync, with quality sacrifices (off luma/brightness, posterization, aggressive NR, etc).
In terms of TBC costs money: buy it, use it, resell it. It holds value.
Firewire is useless, AGP/PCI good if you want an ATI AIW card (best) with XP, but also several great USB cards that are easier to setup and use (and work with Win7, sometimes even Win10).
What you want to do isn't anything new, or difficult. That's good news for you, it'll be easy to get on the right path.
