While Sony equipment allows great interoperability between Sony laptops, cameras, and other Sony gear, it is by no means at all difficult to connect to other equipment...The reviewer below indicates that Firewire is a Sony only protocol. Hogwash! IEEE 1394 is a multiplatform I/O option that allows you to connect to any firewire card available. This allow high speed transfer of digital video to any computer platform that supports it (ubiquitous today; PC, MAC, LINUX).
Don't listen to the negative comments about interconnectivity. Sony gear also easily connects to USB devices. I can only conclude that the reviewer below had equipment that did not conform 100% to the standards for both USB 1.0 and IEEE 1394.
This is good equipment, and worthy of your dollar.