Can't Capture Video with cheap camera anymore!

[Bearcat Tom]

For years I have been using a "cheap" mini dv camera as my playback device to capture video. I have been using Western Digital external hard drives to store all of my video. Last month I bought a new WD drive, it has firewire 800, not firewire 400 like the others. The capturing process is not working. If I use my Sony HRV-Z1 as the playback it works fine. I just don't want to use my nice camera as a playback. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there such a thing as a cheap playback deck?
I spent the day at the Apple store....now I found out it's the playback source. It just seems odd. I have been using this camera as a playback for years. I have read that others do the same thing.
Thanks.

 

[spinnerlys]

What exact Mac and what Mac OS X version do you use, what capture software do you have?

Do you have a 4-pin to 9-pin Firewire cable connected to the camera and new external HDD?

Can you connect the HDD via USB and still capture via Firewire? USB 2.0 is fast enough to capture DV footage, as DV has a small data rate anyway - 3.125MB/s.