Sorry I've been away from the board. I was dealing with Lenovo help technicians.
I learned that my new Lenovo 64 bit does not have a port for the fire wire that goes with the JVC camcorder. And, the substitute cord I have which fits the camera on one end and the USB port on the other end isn't recognized by the computer.
The Lenovo technician told me I had buy a USB to Fire Wire Adaptor.
I don't know of any Firewire to USB converter that actually works.
My suggestion to you is to put your money to better use and
1.) buy a standalone DVD recorder made by Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, JVC, etc. that has Firewire input or 2.) buy a Firewire Expresscard has a ExpressCard slot that has drivers for 64-bit Vista if your Lenovo is laptop or 3.) buy a Firewire PCI card that has drivers for 64-bit Vista if your Lenovo is a desktop computer
If you do anything else, you will end up with a lot of headaches. But it is up to you.
If you Google, Firewire 64-bit Vista you'll see that a lot of people have problems with Vista and Firewire whereas with XP they didn't have that problem.
So, even after you buy the Firewire card for your Lenovo's PCI slot, you *still* might have problems. Keep that in mind.
Oh, boy! I've had nothing but headaches with Vista. Now, here is one more thing.
I've been told I can't really find licensed xp software anymore. Is that true?
What to Vista plagued people usually do?
Sorry for my ignorance. I was happy with xp before my old computer finally crashed. This new one came with Vista and Lenovo technical support that leaves a whole lot to be desired!
1.) Buy JVC's CU-VD10 or CU-VD20 which are JVC's special DVD burner for the Everio that lets you burn the video files directly to DVD discs without need of a PC. The directions on how to do this is on page 40 of the GZ-MG555U Instructions Manual.
2.) Buy a standalone DVD recorder such as the JVC DR-MV80B or DR-MV150B or any Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, etc. DVD recorder that has Firewire / DV input. This is described on page 44 of the Instructions Manual.
3.) Buy a used PC running Windows XP and buy a Firewire card for it.
By the way, IBM does not have XP drivers for your PC, so even if you were to find a legit copy of XP to buy, you can use it.
Thank you again for posting. I was just considering upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 but don't know whether that would affect my Vista files. I'm so frustrated right now - can't really get anything done!
Your third choice made me burst out laughing. Okay, so the JVC's CU-VD10 or CU-VD20 would accept the video, burn to DVD. Then, I insert the DVD and upload it to my computer?
Do you possibly know of a video software that is easy for beginners? I want to ultimately upload travel video to a blog I'm starting and YouTube.
If it was me, and the ultimate goal is to create YouTube videos, I would not bother with your camcorder and instead buy a Flip or a Kodak zi8 or something like that.
The problem is that we just returned from a trip and I took video footage for the travel blog (still not up and running).
Just began to research the JVC's CU-VD10 and CU-VD20. Am I right that the fire wire that came with the JVC MZ MG 555U will attach to the camera and then to the DVD Burner. The DVD Burner uses a USB wire to connect to my Lenovo 64 bit Vista. Right?