Video Capture Problems

Video Capture Problems

I'm trying to connect a camcorder to the PC using Diamond VC 500 (which
shows up in windows as OTG 102 and that driver is supported by v4l). I
have several questions as many things I've tried have not worked.
First of all, I downloaded the V4L package and now Ubuntu is recognizing
the VC500 USB video capture device.
I tried to connect to VLC to see the video I'm playing on a Hi8 camcorder,
and VLC will show a brief flicker of the video playing on the camcorder,
then freezes. No color, only shades of blue in the image.
I tried GTK+ UVC viewer to see if that would work, but every time I try to
open it, the wheel spins like the computer is thinking, but the UVC viewer
never opens.
Finally, I tried to use cinelerra, but I go to record and nothing happens.
I tried to use the preference to change the input to vidoe 4 linux 1 and
2, but neither works and the drop down menu option for soucre in the
record window is always empty.
I've read that people have had problems using the diamond vc5oo on ubuntu,
so maybe I need a new USB video capture device. If that's the case, anyone
know of a good one?
Any help would be appreciated!