are miniDV tape based. Connect a firewire cable (not USB) to the camcorder's DV port (not USB) and the computer's firewire port (not USB). Firewire-to-USB cable/converter/adapter things don't work. You did not say which computer hardware you are using. If there is no firewire port (also known as IEEE1394, DV and i.Link), hopefully there is an available expansion slot so you can add one. USB support for streaming or importing high quality, DV format, video was abandoned. USB can be used for transferring still images.