btoneill is on to something - you will really really want a digital camera soon and digital-8 looks as good as mini-dv, so by getting a digital-8 that can play your old analog tapes, you will be rocking. If I can add my two cents, you might be perfectly happy with a Sony DCR-TRV140. Is is the "low end" of their digital 8 cameras, but the extra features you will pay for on higher models are things you may never use and/or will just use your editing software to do much better (fades, effects... - it is all in the editing software and far easier to use). I think the important thing on any camcorder is manual controls (focus, white balance, exposure...) - these are the things you will really need, not effects, still taking, mpeg... I am new to video and despite my gadget accessory lust, this is what I have learned. I have a Sony mini-dv TRV27 that put me back about $800 and after I played with my brothers TRV140 (that you can get for about $450 - only twice the price you would spend on a video converter!), I realized I would have been happy with that camera - call me crazy, but I think bigger cameras are easier to control in hand held shots. You aren't going to see substantial video quality differences betwen cameras and/or formats until you get into major bucks cameras so don't waste your money!
Also, I have Final Cut Pro 3, but you know what? iMovie is great and I actually prefer it for capturing video (it is much more straight forward). Plus, it really has just about everything you need for 90% of what video editing is all about - rearranging your video to tell a story - NOT fancy effects, filters... Also, there are tons of little plugin effects and filters for iMovie too. I'm certain a skilled editor on iMovie could run circles around an unskilled editor on FCP (like me!). Of course, you will want FCP some day, but don't let that make you fee you are missing out on too much - you aren't.
If you can't afford a new camera right now, just download a bunch of video files of anything that interests you and edit them in iMovie for practice - try it out, it's fun and you will learn a lot. I did this with old Apollo space videos from NASA sites and I learned a lot about editing and was more prepared for when I edited my own stuff.
Good luck!
P.S. You will also learn that controlling your camcorder with your editing software is going to burn out your camera heads and motors if you do it too much. Buy a $30 tape rewinder and just capture all the video in one big batch (iMovie and FCP let you break these up into smaller files quite easily - sort of).
P.P.S. One more thing - there are tons of people on the web selling camcorders for prices that seem too good to be true - they are. Many of these companies are rip off artists (used cameras, missing batteries, lenses, non-USA versions, bait and switch...). They are mostly in NYC and are the scum of the Earth! Crutcfield.com is very honest or just go to Circuit City. Please avoid these online thieves!
