Unable to import video from camcorder into iMovie HD

I am using a Mac mini PowerPC G4 (1.5). I recently bought a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD 106E camcorder that uses DVD discs. The camcorder has no Firewire (iLink) output so I have inserted the DVD into my external DVD writer/player. I can play the footage via the Mac Mini's DVD player software but I cannot import the video clips into iMovie HD.
The icons on the DVD appear to be PC files and are not compatible. Does anyone know how I can take off the footage I have shot and get it into iMovie HD, please?
My secondary thought is that maybe I need to be able to convert the footage clips into Quicktime files, maybe, but I don't know how to go about this, if, indeed, that is the solution.
Please, please help
regards, Huguenot

Your camcorder is incompatible with iMovie 5, which is designed to use DV streams from tape, imported via firewire.
If your camcorder uses DVD disks it likely produces files in mpeg2 format, which is the standard, compressed, final delivery format of a DVD and is not intended for further editing, and cannot be imported into iMovie 5.
I am a bit puzzled as to why you chose that camcorder!
Ideally you should take it back and exchange it for a camcorder that records onto mini DV tape and which has a firewire output.
As it is, firstly you cannot import the footage due to lack of firewire. Secondly, in order to use iMovie at all you will have to convert the mpeg2 files into a DV files which is what iMovie uses.
For that you need mpegStreamclip:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
which is a mere $20.
Another possibility is to use DVDxDV:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm
which costs $25.
But any way you do it, there will be penalty in terms of quality.

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