FireWire not working at all

Having major issues connecting an old Sony Handycam to my Mac. I am using A ThunderBolt to FireWire adapter as well as a 4 to 9 pin FireWire to link the Handicap to my MacBook Air M1, but unfortunately its not working. When I plug in the Thunderbolt adapter with the FireWire cable already connected to the Handycam, it says in system information "Warning: Unable to list FireWire devices." And when I try to unplug the FireWire cable and plug it back in with the Thunderbolt adapter already connected, it only says "Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec" with no Handycam showing up. And yet the Handycam shows a "DV in" indicator on the screen so no problem there. I also tried this on a 2012 MacBook Pro that had FIreWire port built in, and exact same issue. How do I fix this?