Dosent the Camera have firewire??? If so then simply get a Firewire adapter card for your PC and transfer things from the camra to the computer that way. Much cleaner and lees chance of drop frames. Nothing will make it faster though. No high speed transfers ive ever seen. but maybee someday

Regarding DV tapes. I have a Handycam which has to be transferred to VCR before copying to the PC, and then to DVD. I use an AverTV card and set the card to record the input channel for the VCR in real time, (as the VCR records the Handycam output), so I get simultaneous copies on VCR and PC. It's cheaper than updating to a better camncorder, and it gives the security of a VCR tape backup if you have a PC crash while recording from the camera. Hope that sounds feasible, and helps, PS I think I paid about £35 GBP for the Aver Card!