heyy guys..thanks for the replies....sorry i was trying my best to troubleshoot this thing...well i took it to henry's (sells cameras and camcorders)...they connected the camera using my cable to their imac...and it wasn't detected. unfortunately, they didn't have spare cables lying around as their store had just recently moved, so i bought a new cable from a computer store, came home and tried it out, and it still doesn't work ... so i guess it is the camera. yah, i tried all the irq stuff, and starting the camera with the machine etc etc...none worked...i guess it is my camera then...and worse part is, its out of warranty now and i don;t know what to do. i guess i'll be looking at those capture boards which allow you to capture video using a s-video cable and composite audio. i can still do that so that should work fine? i have never worked with a tv-tuner / capture card. i have a couple options there i guess..any knowledge on those topics would be greatly appreciated. thanks again