As if bowling like cr@p 3 hours ago weren't enough...

I borrowed one of the Panasonic AG-DVC60 camera we shoot news stories with during the week and shot video of myself practicing this morning. Of course, I can't post it, bc my Mac doesn't recognize the cameras when it's connected to either of its FireWire ports. 'No cameras Attached', iMovie is telling me. I thought all 6-pin to 4-pin FireWire cables were the same. Apparently not, bc this one won't work.

Argh. Gotta hold onto the tape until I can find a cable that works.

On Windows PC's the system should automatically detect when a cameras's plugged into the Firewire port. Not sure how OSX works but I don't see why they're not similar in that respect.

Aren't the different 1394 standards cross-compatible with each other?

Could it be a USB cable instead?

No, this is most definitely not a USB cable. It fits nice and snugly into either of the Mac's FireWire ports, which means it doesn't fit into a USB port.

Beefers, iMovie is supposed to do that, too, but it's obviously not doing that. I think the cable is a piece of cr@p. Just tried it w/a different model cameras from the one I used to shoot the video. Same problem. 'No cameras Attached'. It would have been nice if I'd had the time to tinker w/this before 1am, but between league, laundry and having to go to work for a few hours, I couldn't.

Edit: both of these camera are Panasonic models (although different models) that both shoot on miniDV. Apple's docs say any cameras that shoots any form of DV is supported. Hope they weren't pulling my leg.

MiniDV's by far the most popular video media that transfers via Firewire (hard drive and flash memory camcorders use USB interfaces, I believe, but you should know since you work in this field). If you have access to another cable try it; the chances of 2 cables failing is pretty much negligible so you should have a good idea of what's wrong afterward.

And, if you can, try connecting with your cable to a windows PC.

But then, since you're the expert, I'm sure you've already thought of those ideas.