Jason,

If it's HDV, you'll have to have an HDV camera which can then copy the content to the local computer. Once you've done that, you should be able to downrez it and output it as a standard .AVI or .MOV.

HDV uses a highly compressed MPEG format and unlike DV, does not store complete individual frames, it stores a key frame and then the changes to that frame. If you convert it to regular DV, my understanding is that it will then reassemble the file with each individual frame intact.

But it sounds like your problem is in being able to read the HDV tape in the first place. Maybe you can put a posting on Craigslist and borrow somebody's HDV camcorder for an hour or two.