Wolsky vs others on the benefit of using iMovie '06 during tape transfer

Question

I'm having a hard time getting a certain issue joined, so let me make the choice stark. Here is something Tom Wolsky said:
"There is no difference between capturing DV tape in iMovie 06 or iMovie 11. The difference is in the project. I can't speak to which will give better output for DVD. Those more experienced with iMovie than I say the older version is better, and I have no reason to doubt them. Certainly you can produce better results with FCS."
As far as I can tell, this has been contradicted by at least two people--in the sense that they have claimed that the benefit of iMovie comes precisely in the importing (transfer from tape to computer). Which side is right?
But there seems to be a problem with the others' claim: If the benefit (only?) comes during the initial importing from tape, why would they also say that the only time you need to use iMovie rather than a later version is when your end product is a DVD? A higher quality imported product would improve the look of a movie on the computer and the Internet too, would it not?

Answer 1

Tom,
First, my assumption is that (a) you know what you are talking about (b) whatever you are saying, it is true. I am also very grateful for the help you have provided.
If you're using a deck which will output your Video8 media in DV format it's DV.
If by this you mean that if one uses a deck that outputs one's Video8 media in DV format it (the output) will be in the DV format, then it is tautological--and hence question begging. Still, I get the implicit point, which you proceed immediately to make below: the empirical (non-tautological) claim that the conversion from analog to digital takes place inside the VCR I used and that the VCR's output is in the form of something called DV.
And it's coming off tape, even if it is analog tape. Your deck is digitizing it into DV. Your deck is acting as a converter.
This is what was news to me. One reason it did not occur to me is that I could have done--I thought--the same thing using my camcorder (if my camcorder was still working). And I didn't think that my camcorder had something in it that will convert analog signals into digital. No one was expecting to transfer their tapes onto computers in 1987, when I bought my camcorder. BUT come to think of it, if I had used my camcorder, I think I would have had to buy some little extra device to do the converting to digital. I think the Firewire cable attaches to this little thing and it attaches to the computer. Or something like that. If so, the VCR has something in it that the camcorder does not. I used the only VCR that is commercially available, The Sony Digital 8mm Video Walkman GV-D200 (now apparently called Digital8 Portable Video Recorder, http://tinyurl.com/25yeq2p). I didn't realize that VCRs can convert analog signals to digital.
You cannot edit analog video inside a computer. It has to be digitized. That's what your deck is doing.
There's no reason in principle that whatever does the converting to digital couldn't be located in the computer. I sort of thought that was what the software did. But my understanding of these things limited.
I don't see what the problem is. I don't see where the confusion is. Once it's in your computer your media is DV. It's coming out of the box as DV. That's what it is. It's DV. Simple.
My confusion is primarily caused by two things (a) insufficient background knowledge and (b) my limited intelligence. More particularly, my confusion comes from the fact that I did not know that what came out of my VCR was already in the DV form and from the fact that you spoke of DV tape when I, in fact, had no tape that was DV. Things are, of course, simpler when you understand them.
Also, I took the DV format to be one among many digital formats. I had no reason to think that VCRs not only can convert signals from analog to digital, but that they happen to do in the particular format called DV (which I am taking to cover any file that ends in .dv).
I've said what I'm going to say about iMovie 6 and 11. I have nothing more to say on that.
I won't hold it against you if you violate this announcement. After all, you might think of something new.
It appears that those who advocate for iMovie '06 believe that iMovie does something in the "importing" process that results in a .dv file that is superior to the .dv file you get when you import using iMovie '11. But I would like to hear from them whether they also accept this characterization by you: "The difference is in the project. I can't speak to which will give better output for DVD. Those more experienced with iMovie than I say the older version is better, and I have no reason to doubt them."
They apparently don't believe that the difference is only in the project. But do they believe that the difference is additionally in the project? And do they also believe that regardless of what was used to import from video tapes, iMovie '06 generates a superior output to DVD? So, if I were not going to retransfer and re-import all my tapes, would my DVDs still be better if I made them using iMovie '06?
Again, thank you for you patience and help. If anyone can suggest a book that provides the sort of background knowledge I am lacking, I will happily read it. Thanks.