Which program to buy and use?

Question

I am trying to debate which program to use. I am trying to choose among Final Cut Express, Adobe Premiere Elements 9 and the new iMovie 11.
I am use to Aperture for my stills and some have told me then it is best to go with the Final Cut Express. Others said keep it simple.
Last time I did home video editing it was with Pinnacle on the WinTel.
So, what do I need to do? I have some already edited Home VHS tapes I need to move to digital before it is too late. I have a Sony 8 mm Digital camcorder with firewire 400. I need to transfer these and 8mm analog tapes to a non-tape format. I can use the camcorder to input the info into my MacBook Pro using a 1 tb firewire 800 scrap drive.
Next, I would like to edit and then create DVDs for about 12 years of videos.
How many tapes to do? About fifteen Of various formats.
I figure the learning curve will be the hardest with FCE, then Elements and finally iMovie 11. I was told in the FCE forum that iMovie do not handle DV video very well.
Any suggestions would be helpful. The plan is to buy the software soon and play with it and at Christmas holiday I will start the long process.
Thank you in advance!
Summary:
MBP 2008 (late) mac OS 4 GB RAM 800 firewire port which I will connect to a LaCie 1 TB rugged HDD. I am planning storing the working and finished files before burning. Scratch Disc (formatted to Mac OS Extended). I need to go digital with my home movies. I have VHS tapes (already edited), Sony 8 mm analogue and digital tapes (need to edit). I want to do editing & DVD burning.

Answer 1

I have some already edited Home VHS tapes I need to move to digital before it is too late.
I have used all 3 programs that you mentioned (and others).
iMovie 11 is a wonderful program assuming that you're using it for what it was designed to do, assemble simple videos to share on the Internet.
I was told in the FCE forum that iMovie do not handle DV video very well.
Not true for iMovie 02 through iMovie 06.
There is a significant regresssion in quality of the image between iMovie 06 and iMovie 08 through 11.
The difference is the single field processing used by iMovie 11 (for faster editing) and the fact that it throws out every other horizontal line.
Final Cut Express and Adobe Premiere Elements 9 will give full quality but are more complicated to use.
In my opinion iMovie 06 with iDVD 09 or iDVD 11 is way to go.
Your workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, iMovie '06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11 is a 100% "lossless" combination and my DVD's look like they came from Hollywood!
You will also need a A/D coverter. (Like the Grassvalley ADVC300)
I've played around with countless other conversion systems, ranging in price from $79 to $399. Short verison, this is the ONLY unit to own. No dropped frames at all, even with questionable quality tapes, no jitter, great color, excellent sound quality. Zero setup with iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11.
This is a prosumer deck. The time code function is alone worth the price if you have old analog footage. Absolutely NO "Out Of Sync" audio.
ADVC300 is for anyone who wants to do editing and is concerned about quality of color and speed, for the novice it is an incredible gizmo that will restore VHS tapes to a state close to the original fixing midtones, highlights and shadows on the fly. Not only can you simply convert analog to digital you can actually manipulate the signal going in (if you want to).
A bit pricey but it WORKS.
The program that comes with the ADVC300 has some nice filters that can improve video and audio of the source material.
I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09/11. VERY easy and 100% "lossless"