In the MacBook Pro, in the System Preferences, in Network, in the drop-down at Network connections (I think - doing this from memory, sorry, check the other selections if necessary), there should be a selection for Firewire port. There needs to be a checkmark in the box next to it to make it active.
With the camcorder powered off (any firewire device should always be off when you are connecting or disconnecting it to/from the computer), connect it to the Mac. Power it up and in "Play" mode (not "camera" mode). Just to make it easier, let's start with iMovieHD first... so launch iMovieHD; Name the iMovieHD project file; select a file destination and select the Video type... in the drop down, you can select DV, DV Widescreen... is HDV there? If yes, keep going. If no, skip to the next paragraph. If you can select HDV, do that and click on OK or Create or whatever the "accept" for that dialog window is. Can you import the video? If yes, great. If no, go to the next paragraph.
If HDV is not one of the selections, or if it is one of the selections but it still won't import, you likely need to do a "custom install" using the OXS System disc that came with the computer to get the Apple Intermediate Codec installed on the computer. The AIC is a QuickTime component.
If you were able to successfuly select HDV and import the video, then YAY. Quit iMovieHD, delete the project file and launch FinalCut. The FinalCut preferences need to identify which camcorder and codec you are capturing from... The "Easy Setup" or Audio/Video prefs can be used. I *think* they are both under "File" when FinalCut is active.