How do I import from a mini DV camera without using the tape? I want to set up a multicamera interview situation and direct stream the content from cameras to hard drives, without running mini DV tapes .

I am running Mavericks 10.9.3 on a Mac Pro and 10.9.4 on a MacBook Pro. My cameras are a Canon ZR800 and a ZR20.

iMovie 8.0.6 will capture from the camera  without having to engage the camera transport but the later version doesn't and neither does FCPX. Both iMovie and FCPX show the cameras in their import dialog and seem ready to roll the 'tape' in the camera but they show the 'camera not controllable' dialog and do not seem to save the footage.

Is there an app which will accept my firewire DV camera and record its output?
Try Quicktime Player -  Cmd/Opt/N for new movie recording. 

That's how I have to get live video into FCPX, though with a different camera.