Which mac is best value for our video editing needs?

We are on a budget and need either a new mac or our old one, upgraded, so that we can edit a substantial amount of video using iMovie (and maybe later Final Cut Express if needed). The video is being shot for us by a semi-pro with a fabulous camera, and is HD.
We have the G5 iMac, 1.5 GB memory, 1.8GHz processor and 134 G internal hard drive. We are using a 160 G external HD for the iMovie stuff right now and will need to get a bigger external.
Shouldn't this mac be sufficient? If not, what is recommended?
Would like to keep hardware purchase under $1000.
Thanks!

Define "substantial amount" of video. 10 hrs? 100 hrs?
What flavor of HD? There are eleventy million.
• Some play with iMovie and FCE, some don't.
• Some require an Intel Mac to decode, some don't.
• Some will play fine from a FW400 drive and some require a RAID tower.
x

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