HD > Codecs > Software ???

Seems you could accomplish this all with quicktime pro.

 

If you are serious about learning, you might consider getting FCE HD. It is $300, which is an excellent price for what you get. It was where I felt I crossed the line and actually began to learn about video post-production.

I am self-taught. For me, it is important to actually involve myself when trying to learn technical things. You can start with a rudimentary production/post-production work-flow. Shoot some video scenes, capture them to your computer, output them to a QT file and use iMovie to create a DVD. Then do the same thing, except add some additional complexity to it. For example, cut some unwanted footage and add some transitions. Then learn how to render your work prior to outputting it. The more you experiment, you will find source reference material to help with your learning. The process of actually doing something, will usually be the driving force in learning. If you just pick up a book, if you are like most people, you will soon become overwhelmed by terminology. By doing the work, it reinforces the terms meaning. This will allow you to learn at a more accelerated rate, the longer you do it.

Good luck and have fun! It really is fun.

 

If you don't yet know how to do minor editing, then I suggest iMovie. FCE is jumping a bit too far for a first step. Just setting it up before a project can be daunting if you don't know what the jargon is.

iMovie has:

HD
editing
transitions
timelines
various special effects
widescreen/standard
various codecs
etc etc

iMovie is used by news programs teams for editing in the field before sending back to base, so it's not all that basic.

You can learn about the joys of mis-defining widescreen as standard, how long it takes to add effects, running out of disk space, buggering up an edit etc etc perfectly well with iMovie

when you've learnt about iMovie and have reached its limits then you can move to FCP.