FCE 3.5.1 Mac Pro and Panasonic NV-GS200

FCE 3.5.1 HD hangs when I start up with my Panasonic NV-GS200 camcorder connect via firewire. I have tried firewire DV PAL, Firewire basic PAL etc with no effect. FCE will only load if I turn off the camcorder. iMovie '08 stops at the blue importing video screen if it recognises the camera and iChat AV 4.0.2 does not recognise the camera or freezes. My OS 10.5.2 is fairly vanilla with all the recommended updates from Apple. Quicktime is up to date as is Flip4Mac WMV. The only other firewire device connected is an external HDD but both powering down and disconnecting the device has no impact. I have used a couple of different firewire cables, used the front firewire port, the back port and the port on my 20" Apple Cinema Display. I have an early (2006) Mac Pro 2 x 2.66GHz dual-core Intel Xeon with 2 GB RAM and 3 x 500GB internal HDD and ATI Radeon X1900XT.

The camcorder works fine with iMovie '08 on my new MacBook Pro 2.6GHz (Nov 2007) and on an old 1.25GHz eMac running 10.4.11. I can capture video if I boot into MS Vista under Boot Camp on my Mac Pro using MovieMaker.

This is very frustrating. The camera and cable combination works well on every machine I have tested except my Mac Pro under 10.5.2. The camera had worked previously on the machine under Tiger but I haven't used FCE for the last 8-12 months. A google search indicates sporadic mention of similar issues but with no solutions. I would appreciate any help if someone has resolved this issue.