I know there's been some other posts with questions similar to what's below, but there haven't been that many replies. So here goes:

I've got a JVC GR-DX77 camcorder and I'm trying to figure out how to get the video off the camcorder and onto my computer. I don't have a Firewire card, so I am using a USB cable that attaches to the camcorder. When I plug the USB cable in and switch the camcorder on, nothing happens on the PC. An indicator comes on the camera that says it's connected, but there's no clear way to access the tape from the PC.

The camcorder came with some software for Windows that works fine, when I'm booted into WinXP. The camera shows up as a drive, and I use the software to capture and edit video. I'm just trying to figure out how to do this without resorting to using Windows.

Can this even be done with USB? Or must I go out and get a Firewire card and cables? (I know, it's probably worth it, but I'm cheap.)

FWIW, I am running Mandrake 10.0 Community (dual boot w/ WinXP) with the 2.6 kernel.

I have the JVC GR-DV3000u camcorder. I use the firewire for video (dvgrab and kino), but i use the usb for grabbing photo's and "email clips", as they're called, from the memory stick. I have been unable to use it as a webcam or to grab video from the tape using the usb. To even see the files on the memory stick, i had to use usb and Mandrake 10. It automatically detects the memory stick and mounted it for me to see on my desktop. And yes it is worth the 50 bucks for a firewire card. Kino is good for grabbing the video and Cinelerra is as good as Adobe Premiere for editing.