I know a lot of people like me is enjoying the pre-installed iMovie application (as of iLife suite) on Mac to do most video related tasks. And iMovie '09 looks excellent to go. But recently I just find I need more advanced features to do better video editing, more than easy-to-go iMovie here. Maybe I shouldn't pay $79 to upgrade to iMovie '09. I found sorts of other video applications for Mac.... which one is the best choice other than iMovie?
First off, I believe Ableton is an audio editor. Not video.And Video FunHouse doesn't seem too serious.
If you are truly looking for more features or more professional editing tools, you might want to take a look at Final Cut Express. Yes, it's $200 but is a great prosumer application that has iMovie 08 support via XML exports.
You see, I find iMovie to have the majority of the features I need. Fast compilation, event library and project organization along with MobileMe and YouTube integration. If you need more control for special effects, high precision editing, layering multiple video tracks and making customized titles (LiveType), you might want to consider Final Cut Express.
The benefit of FCE XML is you can organize your movie quickly in iMovie (making a rough cut) and in a few clicks have it ready to work in FCE for extra touches.
Working with the new iMovie '09 however gives you much wanted tools and fixes what was oh so broken in iMovie '08.
To better make a recommendation: what type of video projects are you working on? Maybe you would get more bang for your buck with iMovie '09 with it's image stabilization, themes, etc. then the overkill power from FCE.
