H.264 on analog camera Years ago I bought Vitamin D Video software for videosurveillance, which doesn' support H.264, but only mpeg-4. 

Currently I'm using two cheap analog cameras (RCA, PAL) connected to pc through 1 usb Easycap and another usb cheap pinnacle (I could't have 2 Easycap connected at the same time) and cameras transmit video at resolution of 640x480 pixels.

Now that one camera stopped working, I'm looking for a cheap but little better camera. Lot of the cameras I found have these specifications:
Resolution: 1200 TV Lines, Pal: 960x860 pixels
Video Compression Format: H.264

Some are cameras have Resolution: 2MP 1920*1080 (always PAL)

When I add a new camera in Vitamin D Video, I can choose between these resolutions:
QVGA 320x240
VGA 640x480
XGA 1024x768
SXGA 1280x1024

My first doubt is: can also analog camera use H.264 codecs? Isn't it a codec for digital transmission?

Also, having an usb device in the middle, do I have to worry if usb devices support h.264 or do I have to check if Vitamin D Video supports it, or both? 

Any links / tutorials are welcome.

Thanks
Here is a good guide to help you understand the compression.

Go Digital, scrap analog. You won't need a computer to handle the cameras or a video encoder.

Buy a cheap Axis camera and download Axis Companion software, then the camera just needs access to the internet and you can view it from anywhere in your smartphone.

You could also buy any other IP camera and get their dedicated software.

I work at Axis, so I do recommend our product line for stability, availability and quality.