Well, I went to the pages you suggested and did make some adjustments in hopes of them solving the problem. They didn't work, but they did help me to notice a minor detail that might have something to do with the problem. On the Sony TRV950, the LCD display indicates that I have a firewire cable connected to an active device by displaying "DV IN" on the screen. What I've noticed, since I've tried using it, is that it sort of "flickers." It appears and goes away sporadically. I even noticed in the menu when I went to configure the so-called iLink, there is a section called "ADJ TEST" and I can't seem to select it because it, as well, flickers in the same manner. I'm continuing to look for discussions on this camera to see if this is a common problem, but logic leads me to believe that I may have a bad connection in the cable itself.
Any comment...or idea of what to do at this point? 🙂