My Sony Handycam DCR-HC28 wont digitize my mini dv tapes arrrghhh!

This is frustrating beyond words… a month ago I purchased a used Sony Handycam from a pawn shop in Long Beach for $130.00 figuring I got a deal but it looks like I may have bought a lemon. I quickly found out I needed to by a Sony ilink cable (VMC-IL4415 4 pin to 4 pin) a firewire hub and a digital key (F-M 6 Pin) in order to connect to my computer. I go on Amazon and newegg place the orders and a few days later I get the equipment and guess what... my laptop doesn’t even recognize the camera. I've searched the net for a driver for my device downloaded one but my camera still doesn’t work.

At this point I think it may be my version of Windows XP that came with my Acer laptop but who knows the bottom line is I have a killer documentary still in pieces and I'm going to have to figure out how I'm going to get this turkey to work.

I don’t want to invest anymore money but that may unfortunitly happen because I'm already in too deep. I plan to get with a buddy of mine and see if the camera works with his laptop but if not then I wasted some precious dinero. I hope I don’t have to buy the latest version of Windows XP which I noticed is retailing for almost $200.00 this movie game is quite costly.