GL2 Newbie Needs Help

Well I have my camera, now what? I have a few questions.

1) How do I transfer the mini DV video from my GL2 to my laptop?

2) Can I record video to the SD card?

3) The tapes will not rewind (everything else on the camera works great). Does the camera have to go to Canon or can I just use my local camera repair shop? Until then, I plan to just buy a mini DV rewinder. Does this sound like a good idea or is the rewind feature important?

4) Someone had told me I need a fire wire cable (not even sure what that is). Do I need one of these?

Hi Brian,it sounds like you bought this camera used.You could always buy a cheap used DV camcorder to rewind and transfer the tapes.Hopefully the rewind is the only problem with it.You will need a firewire cable,and your laptop has to have a firewire port to be able to tranfer to it,some laptops have it built in,some don't.As for the SD card most camcorders use that strictly for still pictures.Most electronics stores will carry the firewire cable.
Hope you get it working for you. Dennis

Hi Brian,it sounds like you bought this camera used.You could always buy a cheap used DV camcorder to rewind and transfer the tapes.Hopefully the rewind is the only problem with it.You will need a firewire cable,and your laptop has to have a firewire port to be able to tranfer to it,some laptops have it built in,some don't.As for the SD card most camcorders use that strictly for still pictures.Most electronics stores will carry the firewire cable.
Hope you get it working for you. Dennis
i agree what Dennis said.