hi mr.rob!!!!! the truth is that i have no idea that i need to have that firewire and video downloader..what i know is that,if you bought a brand new camcorder,it includes the supporting softwares thats why i rely on it.by the way,can you recomend me a certain brand thats surely fits to my camcorder"DVL 820u"..and i'm using winXp on my computer. thank you very much and more power..... truly yours hamlet