You really are a nice bloke arent you.
Human touch ?.....O.K
Speakingquickly ?...O.K
Expert ?.....Not sure about that.
I do own outdoor clothes and the idea is very appealing if Suave Harv says no I'm there

Here is the middle of the road editor ( http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/premiere/ ). Although it's a pfaff there are tryout versions - with a time limit - with luck it'll allow you to Save As. Trouble is, the learning curve is near vertical. There's still eight days left in which Kodak will continue to process their Kodachrome Super8 cartridges (at Lausanne in Switzerland). This is the current critical media - the cameras go very cheap on ebaY - and there are several alternative filmstocks available.

Do you have any friends with a Mac? The standard video editing software that comes with Macs is good enough for most needs.

Oohoo. You speaking my language.

Have a look here:
http://www.digital-digest.com/software/category-65.html
I used to use Virtual Dub years ago, before I got Premiere (steep learning curve? It ain't a curve, it's just a cunningly wrought interface). Virtual Dub is fine for stitching avi clips and looks to have got a bit cleverer since I last used it.

This:
http://www.winavi.com/en/video-converter/video-converter.htm
looks like it might do the job for mpeg conversion.

I miss my old finepix with it's avi option. It's worth having a look at Nero6 (or above if such exists thesedays), as it's superb for easily laying a folder full of avis onto a nice set-top compatible VCD.

If you're running XP, you're likely to have a copy of Windows Movie Maker loaded already.

Ok, I know people laugh at it, but it does the (very) basics for you...

There's a movie making thing on Nero 6. Not sure what it's like as I've never used it, but it might be useful.

I picked up a version of Magix Movie Edit for about £15 a while back, and it's not bad for budget software. There is a more recent version on Amazon for £35 -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MAGIX-Movie-Edit-Pro-10/dp/B000BODMTG/sr=1-2/qid=1158830662/ref=sr_1_2/202-9724546-5065455?ie=UTF8&s=software

Obviously it's not up there with the expensive s/ware, but it did the trick for me - I only have simple needs, transferring short video clips from our digital cameras onto DVD for eg.

Thanks to all for your recommendations. Very useful stuff for a newbie dipping their toe into movies.