How do I transfer my miniDV video to my computer without using a firewire link?

You need firewire because it has a fast enough data transfer rate to capture your footage as it is playing on your camera. So you need to get one if you want to do it yourself. Another option is to send the tape to a professional video conversion service like StashSpace.Com. They will convert the tape to a digital file. It costs $7 per tape and you can watch and edit online, order DVDs, even get back the file(s) on a portable hard drive. Check them out at http://www.stashspace.com

They do make miniDV tape decks, but they still transfer video to the computer via a firewire connection. When miniDV first came out, they made a player that could be added to a computer much like a floppy drive, but it still required the computer to have firewire capability. (both these and floppy drives are obsolete now) If your computer really can't be adapted with a firewire port, then you can use the AV output from the camcorder and a USB capture card, but you will lose a lot of resolution doing it this way. And you will also lose the ability to record any resultant edited programs back to tape, an important feature of firewire connection is it is 2-way.