So for my Birthday my girlfriend gave me a Samsung mini-dv camcorder. She went with the bare-bones model which is fine with me as it'll probably see most of its use in the car recording autocross runs. The camcorder came with a firewire port, but no cable or software. I think compusa has decent prices on 1394 cables (looks like both ends are 4-pin), but once I have the cable then what? If I want to tweak around with the video or even compress it I'll need some video editing software right? Anyone with a PC find anything they like?

If you don't have a firewire card get that first, and then get the cable (since firewire cable is about all the same price, but cards can very based on 4 or 6 pin. I would recommend getting a 6 pin card, then get a 4 to 6 pin cable since the 6 pin card can be used with all firewire accessories, while 4 pin can only be used with 4 pin.

as for capture software, I use adobe premier, but pinacle studio works very well, and beleive it or not, windows move maker makes it super simple. My recomendation is start with windows movie maker (included with windows XP, (start->programs->accssories->entertainment))
If that doesn't do it for you, pinacle is affordable, or if you have 'sources' premier is very powerfull, but very expensive.

Wow, cool I had no idea there was a Windows utility for that built in. My girlfriend's laptop has a firewire port built in (and XP) so I don't need a card unless I wanna hook it up to my desktop. Someone at work said they liked Pinnacle, too. Have to check it out.

My Canon came with Studio 9 from Pinnacle, and I like it alot. It's very easy to use (I use ProTools at work, also made by an Avid division).

And the latest update lets you import video clips from DVD, so you don't have to store your original clips in your HD. Or at least that's why it's useful for me.

Aria

I've had Pinnacle Studio 8 for a few years. There's a few minor bugs here and there, but nothing too bad. I got a card, the wire, and the software for like 70 bucks back in the day

Get the cable off of eBay for next to nothing, the cable shouldn't be anything special. My camcorder has the small firewire port which most people are not used to seeing, I'm guessing your does too. Windows XP does have a capture program and there are a ton of free ones on the web too, but if you want to cut out all the dead time in your video you are going to need some editting software. BTW, if your camcorder has an optional remote I suggest buying it. It is so nice to be able to wait till I get up to the line before I hit record. Plus, it really messes you up when you are all straped in and remember that you forgot to turn the camera on!

For video editing I use Ulead Video Studio 10, great software, but it's all I have ever used. I think there is a free trail of it on the web.