Depends.... what kind of camera do you have. I have a Sony camera that recrods to Hi-8. There for since Hi-8 is not digital I needed to buy soomething to transfer it on to teh computer, what I bought was called DVC-80 it came with starter software and a USB transfer thing to plug my camera into to capture it on to the computer. You can buy it at
www.pinnaclesys.com . Pinnacle is a very reliable company in the video industry they make a lot of programs from begiginer to expert and professional level.
If yours is not a newer camera then its not going to be digital and your going to have to buy the DVC-80 in order to transfer it. I think it was like 60-70 dollars for it soo it wasnt to bad and the editing software it comes with is very good and I picked it up very fast.
Enjoy.
Dave
P.S. - If you need anymore help catch me on aim.