RE: Uploading video through FireWire
Capturing video is done at a one to one ratio: meaning you cannot capture at a rate faster than it was recorded, you may have had a bad connection since you say the quality was bad.........it should look close to the same as it does on your LCD screen on the camera depending on the resolution of your computer monitor.
You said it automatically "uploads" to Movie maker, do you have any other editing software you would like to capture it in?