Webuser Forums: Video to laptop help please

HI all.
I have a JVC Digital Camcorder model GR-DVL160EK I would like to put some footage onto a Disk,but dont know how to do this,I have a mini DV socket and a S-Video socket on my camcorder, I do not have a firewire cable yet but will be buying one soon ,is the DV socket where the Firewire cable goes into ? and does my laptop have to have a Firewire card if there is such a thing ? or will the Firewire act as a USB connection.I have Windows Movie maker on my machine which is running XP.My Camcorder is about six years old
Also how does the video footage get saved onto my laptop,do I just press play when its connected to my laptop,sorry for sounding thick but the manual only tells me how to connect to a Video recorder and how to edit footage through that,there is no mention of saving or editing using a computer.
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Tom