Importing to imac from JVC SR-VC30U Combo min DV/SVHS deck by Firewire

Question

One step DVD would not work, but one should be able to play either min DV tape or SVHS tape in the $826 JVC SR-VC30U Combo mini DV/SVHS Deck and, via its Firewire, capture a DV video file into the imac, correct? (How is that done--does image capture recognize that a Firewire input is present, and give you options to start/stop capture?)Now, the combo unit output most likely is a 4 pin Firewire (IEEE 1394), and I think one can get a 4to6 pin adapter cord, as the imac is 6 pin Firewire, right?
Good source for such a connector?
I'll be mastering video to 90/60 min. min-dv tapes recorded in both a camcorder and the SR-VC30U, and would rather use the deck rather than my camcorder as the playback unit to save wear on the camcorder. I also have numerous video tapes, VHS and SVHS, that I like to get into my imac as dv. I can also back up the min-DV mastering of events with a SVHS tape, and import that SVHS footage if the min-DV recording fails. Might even be a way to get better footage from DVDs, by looping through playback, than trying to rip from the recorded DVD.
One might even be able to loop through video and capture dv to the imac--checking with JVC about that and related questions--will report back...
Regards, Dale

Answer 1

JVC never answered my email questions. iapps confirmed that my basic assumptions were reasonable, however. So I ordered the items.
I have received and worked with the JVC SR-VC30U Combo DV/SVHS deck and it appears to be a versatile unit. You can dub from one format to the other, record input to both formats, play either format and have DV/Firewire output, and loop through input to digitize analog video for Firewire input into the imac. Haven't tried recording DV in to both formats yet.
Looping through playback from a recorded DVD, capturing, imovie, idvd, to burned DVD looked much better than ripping the original DVD with Cinematize and doing the same.
You have to control the deck manually--imovie will not control the functions (play, rewind, stop, etc) as you have with most DV camcorders, of course.
I've also found the Panasonic PV-GS500 to be compatible with imovie. You have to have it in playback mode, not PC mode. Also, there was some flicker in footage ran through imovie/idvd to burned DVD, particularly in transitions were there was movement in the video at time of transition. Some of that may have been related to stabilization so I've turned that off to see if it helps.
Dale