How do I take video from my video camera and put it on my computer?

I have a JVC that uses mini DV tapes. I connected the camera using a USB cable but in the digital photo navigator software that came with it, the thing doesn't respond to any "importing" that i try to do. I'm really confused and in a time crunch. Help!

Your camera probably takes both video on MiniDV and pictures on a memory card, no? If it does, it may have 2 kinda of connections - Firewire and USB? Which the heck is for video? Well, on many cameras that are similar to yours, a Firewire cable will transfer or "capture" the video and USb for the pictures. Firewire is needed because there is a lot more information going through the camera, and the cable is like a high bandwidth source.

With that said, if you are just looking to import or "capture" videos, you can probably use Windows Movie Maker as something basic, but yet intuitive. So, a picture program probably won't help you much for capturing.

If this doesn't help you, feel free to e-mail me at ratkins06 @ yahoo [dot] com and I'll find an answer for you.

I don't know as much as most of these folks about this but my computer came with a generic name brand program that worked for me and an older H.P. program from a c the software on the hard drive worked o.k. for me lucky i guess.
Good luck.