Mini DV import problem

[ajajajaj]

So sorry for bothering, and whomever can help me is a HERO...

I'm a in pinch and trying to convert some mini DV's from about a decade ago to digital for the first time...

I hooked up the firewire and opened iMovie (turning the camera on in the first place does NOT automatically open iMovie, mind you), where it does indeed prompt me to import. Then, it choppily plays the tape without audio in real time and after that, shows up as iMovie thumbnails... only, there will be one large section which is glitchy, and about a hundred other thumbnail/clips ranging from 30 seconds - 1 second, which are also glitchy.

It's nothing wrong with the tape - the tape plays back fine in the actual camcorder and if I hook it up to my TV... the Camcorder is a Canon ZR800 if that's worth anything... the person I borrowed it from led me to believe that it would automatically import the footage then 'condense' it afterwards... nothing like that is happening - just a bunch of garbage in iMovie as events... ???

Anyway - any help would be greatly appreciated!

[ogk]

Some links:
http://rasterweb.net/raster/2008/06/22/canon-mini-dv-camera-firewire-bug/

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=339395

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=415782

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080822190247AAkAsJ1