New iMac and iMovie don't recognize Panasonic camcorder

I've had a Panasonic PV GS400 for a few years. I've flawlessly imported video into my old G4 tower. I recently purchased a new iMac. Because the Firewire cable that I had was for FW400, I had to buy a 4 pin to 9 pin Firewire 800 cable to connect the camcorder to the computer. But it is not recognizing the camcorder. I tested the firewire port on the Mac with other peripherals and it is working properly. And I'm still able to connect the camcorder to the G4 tower no problem, so the camcorder is working properly. I then figured it was a bad cable, so I bought a new one. Same deal. I even tried connecting the camcorder with the new cable to my MacBook Pro FW800 port. No go. But when I tried it on the MBP Firewire 400 port it worked fine.
So my question is this, is anyone aware of an issue like this where a relatively new (2006) camcorder can't be recognized by FW800?
I was finally able to import video onto the iMac by 1) connecting an external FW400 hard drive to the Mac's FW800 port with a 6 to 9 pin connector then 2) connecting the camcorder to the FW400 port on the external drive. It works, but is hardly elegant.
Thanks for any thoughts on this.

Hi
+I was finally able to import video onto the iMac by 1) connecting an external FW400 hard drive to the Mac's FW800 port with a 6 to 9 pin connector then 2) connecting the camcorder to the FW400 port on the external drive. It works, but is hardly elegant.+
That's the way I connected too.
I like to have the HD on the speediest connector to get a smooth playback.
Else read.
Cable
• Sure that You use the FireWire - USB will not work for miniDV tape Cameras
FireWire - Sure not using the accompany USB-Cable but bought a 4-pin to 6-pin FW one ?
• Test another FW-Cable very often the problem maker.
Camera
• Test Your Camera on another Mac so that DV-in still works OK
• Toogle in iMovie pref. Play-back via Camera (on<->off some times)
• Some Cameras has a Menu where You must select DV-out to get it to work
Does Your Camera work on another Mac ?
Sorry to say it is to easy to turn the 6-pin end of the FW-cable 180 deg wrong.
This is lethal to the A/D-chip in the Camera = needs an expensive repair.
(Hard to find out - else than import/export to another Mac ceased to work
everything else is OK eg recording and playback to TV)
Connections
• Daisy Chaining most often doesn’t work (some unique cases - it’s the only way that work (some Canon Cameras ?))
Try to avoid connecting Camera <--> external HD <--> Mac but import directly to the Mac then move
the Movie project to dedicated external hard disk.
Mac
• Free space on internal (start-up) hard disk ? Please specify the amount of free space.
(Other hard disks don't count)
I go for a minmum of 25Gb free space for 4x3 SD Video - and my guess is 5 times more for 16x9 HD ones
after material is imported and edited.
SoftWare
• Delete iMovie pref file may help sometimes. I rather start a new account, log into this and have a re-try.
• Any strange Plug-ins into QuickTime as Perian etc ? Remove and try again.
• FileVault is off ? (hopefully)
Using WHAT versions ? .
• Mac OS - X.5.4 ?
• QuickTime version ? (This is the heart in both iMovie and FinalCut)
• iMovie 8 (7.1.?) ?
• iMovie HD 6 (6.0.4/3) ?
Other ways to import Your miniDV tape.
• Use another Camera. There where tape play-back stations from SONY
but they costed about 2-4 times a normal miniDV Camera.
• If Your Camera works on another Mac. Make an iMovie movie project here and move it
over to Your Mac via an external hard disk.
(HAS TO BE Mac OS Exchange formatted - USB/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange WILL NOT DO)
(Should be a FireWire one - USB/USB2 performs badly)
*from LKN 1935.*
Hi Bengt W, I tried it all, but nothing worked. Your answer has been helpfull insofar as all the different trials led to the conclusion that there was something wrong with my iMovie software. I therefore threw everything away and reinstalled iMovie from the HD. After that the exportation of DV videos (there has not been any problem with HDV videos) to my Sony camcorders worked properly as it did before. Thank you. LKN 1935
*from Karsten.*
in addition to Bengt's excellent '9 yards of advice' ..
camera set to 'Play' , not rec/computer/etc.?
camera not on battery, but power-line?
did your Mac 'recognize' this camera before...?
a technical check.
connect camera, on, playback, fw-connected...
click on the Blue Apple, upper left of your screen ..
choose 'About../More..
under Firewire.. what do you read..?
More
• FileVault - Secure that it’s turned off
• Network storage - DOESN’T WORK
• Where did You store/capture/import Your project ?
External USB hard disk = Bad Choise / FireWire = Good
If so it has to be Mac OS Extended formatted
----> UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange is NOT Working for VIDEO !
Yours Bengt W

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