canon optura 300 question

While Nixie is visiting, I was hoping she could record me doing a storytelling. I don't have a video camera, but Neal borrowed one for me from a coworker, and today we recorded something. The camera is a Canon Optura 300 digital video camcorder. It has a cassette and a memory card, but Nixie says it couldn't record video on the memory card, only stills. So we recorded a six-minute story on the cassette. I don't know how to get it from the cassette to my computer. I found the manual online. It says "You can transfer recordings to a computer equipped with a DV (IEEE1394) terminal or IEEE1394 capture board (optional software required)." (I love that: optional software required.) So, if I had the correct port and the correct cable and the required optional software, I could do it? Am I reading that right?

I could ask Neal to ask his coworker how, exactly, he gets files from the camcorder to the computer, but at this point I just want to erase the whole thing and try again some other year.