Searching For Media error message FCP Studio (current)

So my rich and famous friend has 2 SONY HD cams, a $5000 one from a year ago, and a $3500 from last week,

We shot a 3 camera newscast today. I captured the video from the $5000 cam just as I have captured any and all types of video for the past few years.

I switched the firewire cable to the $3500 cam, rebooted FCP, CMD-8, Capture Now, see video in the window just fine but also the error message "searching for media".

So I take tape out of $3500 cam and put it into $5000 cam, swap the firewire cable back, reboot FCP, and it works fine.

WHY??

Do I need to restart the Mac?? What does the error message "searching for media" mean? I'm used to "Searching for timecode" but never "searching for media".

I didn't even bother with the $1100 cam. I just took the tape out and put it into the $5000 cam. It worked.


The only other thing is that we're using some small flourescent tubes to backlight the glass in his desktop... and with the $5000 cam were seeing some "purple/green" flickering in his face... is that due to the flourescent lamps, and/or shutter speed? If so, which direction will fix: less than 1/60th or more than 1/60th?

THANKS