capturing footage from camcorder to computer - Help needed

[Confused Chimp]

I've just bought my first cam corder. I bought a Sony MiniDV DCR-HC96E, mainly because it has a AV in, which is quite hard to find these days. I've also got a small external camera that can be mounted on a persons head.
I've used this setup to record quite a bit of footage from when I was on holiday and now want to put it onto the computer.
Whats the best way to go about doing this. I expect I will place the final result on a DVD and also have a copy on the computer as well. So ignoring the file format for the moment. What is the bect way to get the footage onto the computer?
Do I use the bundled software? Using the USB cable?
Do I use the AV out on the camcorder and put it into the computer via the AV in on my graphics card (XFX GeForce 7800GT) and record it using VirtualDub or similar?
Which way will yeald the best results?
Or is there another better way of getting the footage onto the computer?
Thanks in advance for any comments suggestions
Cheers
CC

[redwudz]

Assuming that the camera has a DV/FireWire output, that would be the best. You need a FireWire card in the computer and a Firewire cable. Then you can use a freeware program like WinDV to transfer from the camera to the computer hard drive. USB output is generally low quality video meant for the Web.

[peter06]

The best way is to connect your PC with your camcorder with a firewire cable and capture your video. It doesn't matter which program you use.