Many miniDV camcorders will act as an analog <-> DV bridge (the passthrough feature) so you don't need to actually put anything on tape, just play the protected video back as if to a TV (using the composite/S-video adapter for your Mac or iPod) and connect that to your camcorder. Then connect the camcorder to the Mac via firewire.
Start capturing with iMovie and then start playback from the iPod/Mac. Trim, edit, compress to your heart's content.
B