I did some research and found that the Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD recorder can be used as a passthrough on line 1 (also disable DNR digital noise reduction by going to display->video on the remote) to help maintain the signal.

BUT when you use the software included to trim the begging of the movie it makes it POP or make a real loud noise when playing it back

And there's a constant hum noise, not sure where that's coming from

Only caveat is that if you try to do other work on your computer, such as modify documents or upload/download files while the device is converting a video signal, static noise can work its way into the recording

My Canopus had been performing badly for a LONG time - terrible noise I could not figure out how to stop (Audio noise on recording after in computer!)

Video is clear and audio is noise free.

It has plugs for both the RCA jacks as well as the S video.