I have about two dozen videocassettes in the mini DV format filled
with priceless family memories.  

I own both IBM equipment running XP Professional and Apple equipment
running Jaguar version OS10.  My goal is to preserve and edit my video
with an absolute minimum amount of quality degradation due to
compression.

My question is how to do this.  Should I transfer each mini DV onto
DVD and how do I do this?  Is there a better way?

Also, how do I edit and then preserve not only one DV but perhaps a
movie made of themes from several DVs?

In other words, what I really want to know is how do I preserve these
DVs, transfer them onto a medium that will not degrade using the
highest resolution possible while still being able to edit and create
custom movies?

You can insert the DV tape into your camcorder, import the movie using
iMovie (or Final Cut Pro) to create a "project", and burn the project
files onto a DVD. That way, the DV files' integrity will be 100%
preserved.

Hi r2-ga 

Are you still interested in a more comprehensive answer to your question? 

regards
vinods-ga

The idea for imovie is the best one.  I have done this with about all
of my old family stuff.

Very easy, and once on a Hard Drive, is very perminent.

TheC