Trouble capturing tape from camera to FCP 7

I'm having trouble capturing the video from the tapes from a Sony DCR-VX2100 camera into my FCP7. I have plugged in a Firewire 4-pin cable into the output on the camera and a Firewire 6-pin into my hard drive that I am capturing onto. But when I click Log and Capture in FCP I keep getting the message "Unable to initialize video deck." The camera is set to VCR mode and
it plays back the tapes fine.

Do I need to connect the camera DIRECTLY TO THE COMPUTER for this capturing process to work?

In that case, I will need to get a Firewire 4-pin/Firewire 8-pin since my iMac only has inputs for Firewire 800 (and USB inputs).

Any assistance in helping me resolve this issue would be GREATLY appreciated.

Many many thanks!

Laurence Wallace

It may be that FCP can't see your deck directly thru the hard drive. I have heard of other people having similar issues when not connecting the camera directly to their computer.
You might try to set the capture device to "non-controllable device" and then see if you get video in the preview screen.

FW400 to FW800 cable with the deck/cam directly to the Mac will work.