This is preliminary. As I have no such equipment yet, I can only 'report' what I've found.
Sony's MicroMV camcorders are the first that really are 'pocket size'.
The recording format is not DV, but MPEG2. Differences to DVD-MPEG2 are: Higher data rate of 12 Mbps (DVD: 9 max, 6 average). This data rate is still 1/3 of DV, which makes the cassettes much smaller.
Capturing is done via Firewire, as with DV; however, not every software can deal with it.
SONY delivers a little capture/edit software called MovieShaker with every camcorder; runs only on PC.Pinnacle Studio 9 can also deal with MicroMV. Get no older version, if you have a MicroMV camcorder.
Now here's the beef:
After capturing, you may just remultiplex the MPEG2 stream format that MicroMV is, into 'real' MPEG2 that can - if codecs are installed - be edited with any MPEG2 capable software.
It's also possible to play that MPEG2 with Media player and others.
For remultiplexing, there is a tool named mmv2mpg. You may also try Moonlight Xmuxer (TMPGenc could also work but I can't tell).For DVD creation, you should normally reencode the MPEG2 to a standard bitrate (see DVD page) to be sure that it plays.
As MicroMV is a constant bitrate encoding and hardware MPEG encoders also aren't usually the very best, the conversion to a lower VBR rate should not affect quality.When short of time, you may also directly make a DVD from the MicroMV MPEG. Computer DVD drives are able to handle the data rate. Stand alone players may or may not (mine do even 15 MBps without choking). About 45 minutes of video should fit on a self-burned DVD this way, pretty well enough for a holiday video.
Storing the original bitrate on a DVD is also a good idea for archiving- DVDs are meanwhile much cheaper than tape, mechanically much more rugged, and you can even make several backup copies for cheap, securing your valuable memories.At last, an alternative capturing solution:
If you want to play around with the filter graph editor (Graphedit), you might be able to capture MPEG2 directly from the camcorder with http://www.webtc.com/DVHS/TSPFlt.zip.
This tool was originally made for DVHS-capturing.
There's a Windows XP and D-VHS Howto that may tell you more.
Graphedit is contained in the DirectX Media SDK (available for free at Microsoft.com). The SDK is huge, so be prepared for a long download.
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