For around $20 you can get BOTH a firewire PCI card and cable, I would say they are expensive. My camcorder records to hi-8 tape and I use firewire to transfer footage to my PC.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...6135&CatId=510
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...825&CatId=1214
I think it's just a preference issue.