Digital 8 tape camcorder. Since the camcorder manufacturers stopped supporting/updating the USB drivers for USB connectivity to get the video off the tapes (same with miniDV), and since you know you need firewire but no available slots to add a port, I think you have a choice:
1) Use a computer with a firewire port.
2) Connect the camcorder's analog audio and video to an "analog/digital converter", connect the A/D converter using USB to the computer. The video quality won't be as good as using firewire for the importing, but it is what it is...
USB won't work. USB-to-firewire cable/converter/adapters won't work.
I have a Sony DCR-TRV350 and I'm trying to convert years worth of our home videos (8mm tapes) to video files and eventually burn them to DVDs. However, the drivers for this camcorder don't support anything past Windows XP service pack 2. My desktop, which is ideally where I would like to capture these vids, runs Windows 7 32 bit and my laptop runs Windows XP service pack 3.
I don't have any IEEE 1394 ports on either computer, and I don't have any more open PCI slots on my desktop for a firewire card, so I'm not sure firewire is an option, which is why I'm mostly referring to USB.
I tried downloading the driver in compatibility mode on my desktop which seemed to work; however, none of the video capturing software that I try recognizes that the device is present. I know everything works properly because it captured flawlessly on my mom's laptop with XP service pack 2 using Windows Movie Maker.
I'm really at a loss of what else to do, and I would really like to get this done for my dad's birthday soon, so it would be a miracle if I found an answer to this. Thanks in advance.

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