Video is captured by camcorders to various media - digital or analog. I know lots of people who have working IEEE1394 ports on many Windows versions - including 64 bit Vista. This is not a camcorder issue, but an incorrect Windows setting or using cheap firewire cards with poorly written firmware. Good firewire cards (I've had good experiences with Belkin and SIIG) or good built-in firewire (Compaq/HP, Sony) work just fine - but happy users rarely post how happy they are something works... people having problems will post how something does not work.