Video 8 into FCPX - been a nightmare

ORIGINAL PROBLEM #1: Get old family video footage from Video 8 tapes into FCPX to make some family movies.
SOLUTION #1: Use a local bureau service to produce DVD's and import these into FCPX. DVD's produced.

PROBLEM #2: Of course I can't import these DVD's directly into FCPX.
SOLUTION #2: Download and get MPEG Streamclip onto the job, which seems to work OK. Convert 18 DVD's to MOV files in this way. Import them all into FCP successfully.

PROBLEM #3: Oh no, on closer examination in FCP, some (but not all) converted files have time shift in both audio and video. Some MOV files are badly out of sync (up to minutes out) in some parts, but the same MOV can be OK in other parts. Some MOV files are OK all the way through. Erratic and unpredictable outcomes.
SOLUTION #3: Tried whole lot of different settings in MPEG Streamclip, and different output types (including DV and MPEG4).

PROBLEM #4: The problem remains, and what is more the exact same compressions are occurring in the exact same places. Seems a bit weird to me.
SOLUTION #4: OK ...stay calm....do a bit of research on the net.... MACX DVD Ripper Pro might do the job...download and try. The first conversion works perfectly. Get it into MPEG4 and then into FCPX and all is good.

PROBLEM #5: Oh boy.........flushed with success.......but the second time i try to do this conversion with MACX DVD Ripper Pro (on another DVD) the conversion takes about 5 seconds and gives me a 1.6 MB file. Yep - it has only converted the very first few minutes of the DVD. I have now tried quite a few things within this program, and it will ONLY EVER give me a few minutes of conversion. I have not been able to find anyone else talking about this issue on the net.
SOLUTION #5: I go back to the bureau and see if they can produce me a file that can be imported directly into FCPX rather than a DVD. They can and do, but can only do so using Power Director, a PC only program. I get an MPEG4 file.

PROBLEM #6: Not necessarily a fatal problem yet, but the bureau guy has given me a hard drive formatted for Windows NT I cannot read on my iMac. I could discard these files and format the hard drive in MSDOS FAT which both machines can read, but file size would be limited to 4GB (naturally my files are all 10-15 GB minimum). Perhaps I could try to format the hard drive in exFAT, but I am not sure if this is the way to go either. And anyway the bureau guy has now gone away on holiday!!

SOLUTION #6 (not yet available): I am a patient and methodical guy but am starting to wonder if I am going to make it at all with this project. Does anyone out there have any suggestions? I really would rather not involve the bureau guy further if not necessary (he has been very helpful but his patience will be limited in the end). I also think that I should be able to do what is needed with MPEG Streamclip and/or MACX DVD Ripper pro.

Any thoughts or ideas?????

Thanks for your helpful replies guys.

The reason I went to the bureau initially was because my old camera has bitten the dust. I did originally think about getting another camera and an analogue/digital converter, but thought that the bureau option would be more robust, and also was not sure about the risk in trying to buy a second camera (I am in regional Australia not a big city). For amount of money I have spent so far it may in fact have been a better choice in the long run. I accept the comments about better quality this way too.

I guess I thought there may be some known issues that were causing the various softwares to behave as they have, particularly the short fuse for MacX DVD Ripper Pro, and hoped that someone might have an inspirational idea in that regard.

RE Handbrake - I downloaded it since my original post and it TOO only ripped 13 seconds then stopped and delivered my a very short clip.

I am coming to the conclusion that there is something about the DVD's themselves which may common to all these issues. I have now had problems with 4 different ripping programs which generally work well enough for other people. The person at the bureau is back from his trip tomorrow so I will go back to him and see what he says.

Regards