EMERGENCY - video copy fails

[cheeseplease]

setup: video tape player, connected to the line in of a panasonic NS DV 38 camcorder. the plan was now to play down the video tape, and record it digitally onto the camcorders DV tape.

Problem: the cam doesnt record THIS ONE videotape. all the others work. the vcr is a pal vcr, and the tape is a pal vhs.
but since the recordings on tape are all from usa or canada, its possible that the footage itself is ntsc and so the camcorder doesnt take it??? the camcorder (while playback and while recording) shows a black screen, while only the audio comes out of the camcorder box! but when recorded, nothing is on tape, not even the audio. the TV, which is connected to the vcr as well, shows the footage as it should be.

ANY IDEAS WHAT COULD CAUSE THIS AND WHAT TO DO? I HAVE NOT MUCH TIME LEFT SINCE MOST OF THE EQUIPMENT IS BORROWED. thanks

[cheeseplease]

so i had a back door idea over night: i could use the PCs TV card to make it digital, too. but i want the stuff on DV tape too, in any way. so is it possible to capture it to my HD in a quality as good as "into camcorder"? my HD has 50 GB left, thats much but not much enough for 2 full hours, so what codec would be useful maybe, and, how do I get the captured avi into DV format?