Input problems with Sony HVR-Z5's iLink

[NSP]

Hi everyone!
I'm having trouble recording to tape from both Premiere CS4 and Vegas Pro.
I want to record a DV file to tape using the camera's iLink input.
I encounter various problems (because they never come alone, of course...).

The first one happens on a PC, with both Premiere CS4 and Vegas Pro:
Recording starts fine, after a few seconds the camera's screen turns blue for a couple of seconds and flickers a bit.
The tape records blue whenever this happens.
No idea what's going on, but the fact that this happens with two different softwares (which do not assume they've dropped frames) led to believe it might have something to do with the iLink.

I then decided to try it on a Mac with Premiere CS4.
I didn't even get as far as recording.
When I connect it to the computer the camera starts going wild, as if it didn't know if it should be in "IN" mode or "OUT" mode.
It starts flickering from one to the other. This kinda freaked me out after reading about a lot of people who allegedly burned their connections...
This might have something to do with the cable or the fact that the connection on the Mac is Firewire 800 and the camera is a 4 pin 400.

I'm completely lost here...
Any ideas?

Of course I could have a DVCAM copy made in some digital lab, but they charge A LOT of money for something that I supposedly already have in the camera, a DVCAM recorder.

[aedipuss]

on the pc, is it a laptop? the specs you list suggest so. if it is then it only has one slow hard drive and it's possible that something is interrupting the flow of packets to the cam. try it on a desktop with multiple drives and use on that doesn't have the operating system/page file on it.

the mac? are you using a working f800 to f400 cable/adapter? camera in play mode?

[NSP]

Yes, it is a laptop indeed.
I'm recording from an external drive, that could be part of the problem.
Ill try using the local drive (the partition that doesn't contain the OS) on my laptop until I have the chance to try it on a more powerful desktop with multiple drives.

The cable is a brand new 800/400 and the camera is in play (VCR) mode.
This one just baffles me.
I have had firewire problems before with other cameras, and I sure can understand the slow hard drive hypothesis, but this is beyond my grasp.
Especially because I have no trouble whatsoever capturing from this camera on my PC laptop.
I figured that after all the trash talk you hear about windows and PCs I would at least be able to connect the camera to the Mac without much fuss...
Guess not.

Thanks!

[aedipuss]

you might want to try playing a DV tape while plugging into the mac. if that sony HDV cam is anything like the canon HDV cams the firewire port can get forget whether it's in HDV or DV mode even if it's set to DV until a DV tape is played. check the menu there should be settings for the recording mode and the firewire port mode that need to be adjusted, don't use "auto" if that is one of the choices.

[NSP]

It is not in "auto" mode. I set it to DV.
I read some stuff about people being very cautious with the use of the firewire connection.
Some even say they only plug or unplug the cam when the computer is off.
I'm sure this is completely exaggerated, but to what point is it safe to plug it in while it is playing a tape?
I'm not very sure about what actually are the issues with firewire on cams, but I read some stories about burned ports for almost nothing.
I had some too, but it was caused by pins inside the connector getting bent and not making contact correctly.

[aedipuss]

the 4 pin end of the firewire cable has NO power pins. the only way to "fry" a 4 pin connection is to break the connector off the circuit board usually by dropping a cam with the cable inserted.

[NSP]

I ended up having the copy made at a video lab.

I still have problems with the iLink connection to the Mac though.
I can't get it to connect properly, so that means can't capture to Final Cut Pro.
I�ve tried to connect the camera in play as aedipuss suggested and tried to capture with FCP.
The camera doesn't change input/output mode, but it flashes on and off.
FCP doesn't connect to the camera. It says it can't find any device.

The camera works fine on a PC with a 4 pin/4 pin firewire cable.
So I'm pretty sure it's not a hardware problem in the cam.
I use it every other day to capture footage.

The problem is, FCP doesn't recognize M2T footage, so I can't use my previous captures made on the PC.
I have a converter, but it takes forever to convert the footage and I'm not really sure if it is doing it's job 100% right.

Is it the cable?
I mean, apart from the possibility that a brand new cable doesn't work (I'll check that just in case), could there be any reason for this to happen?

Thank you all for the tips!!