Converting digital camcorder tapes to DVDs

I have been trying to download tape from my digital video camcorder to my desktop computer to create DVDs. I upgraded my memory from 256 to 512 RAM. I installed an additional 50 gig harddrive to save the downloaded video to. I installed a new DVD burner, a firewire port and purchased software to generate the DVDs. My computer has 1.7 ghz of speed and is operating on windows XP. Every time I begin to download the video from the camcorder device through the firewire port it locks up my entire computer. The most recent advice I received was to update all drivers which I did and to make sure I am closed out of all programs prior to downloading. My little project is turning into a frustrating nightmare. Please help.

 

what software are you using please?

 

I tried downloading both using the windows software as well as the ULEAD software. The computer locked up using both.