Sony camcorder mini-dvd help

[videochallenged]

Help!!!!!!! We have a Sony - MiniDV Handycam Camcorder model DCR-HC52 and took it on vacation. We now want to play the minidvd's on the tv for family to watch as a group. We tried putting the mini in the DVD player and it will not play that way. We (both my husband and myself) are soooo VERY electronically challenged! Do we have to use something called 'FIREWIRE'? We also tried to hook up the video camera to the tv to watch it that way. Could not get it to work either. I have read some of these replies to posts and it's like reading RUSSIAN. You guys are so technical that us 'challenged' people cannot understand. We no longer have the owners manual (we have kids that lose things) so I am desperate to get help. We are starting to wish we had our old VHS video camera back. We could pop out the tape and put it in the VCR and play it right away. Things are sooooo complicated these days!!!
Someone PLEASE help and explaine in 'layman's' terms.

[gadgetguy]

The Operating guide can be found here: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=DCRHC52

[tinker]

Read the manual.
You most likely got a cable with your camera. It will be a cable with one plug round pin about 1/8" dia on one end and three plugs (yellow, red and white) on other end.
That is what you use to connect camera to TV and play the disk in camera.
Manual will explain connection.