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Okay, today I got my firewire cable, which I was told I needed to get footage from my video camera (Canon ZR830) into iMovie. So, I hooked the camcorder to my computer correctly, being sure everything was plugged in, and it didn't work! What did I do wrong?
Oh, It seems connected when I look at system profiler, but it still doesn't show up in iMovie (HD)
It isn't a USB cable... it is a Firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link) cable... connecting to the DV port on the camcorder and the firewire port on the Mac. Nothing USB.

Correct.

Is the camcorder also plugged in to the wall for power?

Yes, the battery is really weak or dead, so that is kind of a must.

Is the camcorder in Play mode?

Yes.

Is the Firewire port active? (In System Preferences, select Network, then "show" Network Port Configurations... Is there a checkmark in the "Built-In Firewire" box?

Um, near firewire there is a red dot, I don't know how to make it turn green.

In iMovie, there is a little "switch" near the left above the timeline... one side has a picture of scissors - the other side has a picture of a camera... guess which side it needs to be on?

I guessed and I was correct.

I still have this problem...

Since we can't see what you can see...

It isn't a USB cable... it is a Firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link) cable... connecting to the DV port on the camcorder and the firewire port on the Mac. Nothing USB.

Is the camcorder also plugged in to the wall for power?

Is the camcorder in Play mode?

Is the Firewire port active? (In System Preferences, select Network, then "show" Network Port Configurations... Is there a checkmark in the "Built-In Firewire" box?

In iMovie, there is a little "switch" near the left above the timeline... one side has a picture of scissors - the other side has a picture of a camera... guess which side it needs to be on?

+++++++++++++++

Get the Firewire port working - it is not at the moment.