No transfer movies to my Laptop

I am sooo upset with this camara , I got it at Circuit city for a graduation for my niece , with the hopes to have it downloaded into my laptop, and I cannot do it so ....It took me a few year to finalize it the cd's that okay I could see them only on any dvd player cool , vut in my computer no , not even updating the windows vista to the windowsxp cd rom came with the camcorder , I f I knew it was sooo much problem , I never would of purchased it , I t reall y no good for what I want it . I am stress to loose my money like this .I got it brand new from open box , thats why I purchased it for two and some change. S i rather then purchase another one but with hardrive ,I was told by consumer report its better and saves more money in mini dvd's.Sorry but this one really is dissapointed .