Final Cut Express is similar to Final Cut Pro, in fact there were (probably still are) upgrade paths from Express to Pro. It is a great intro if you expect to go on to Pro someday. However it is far more complicated than iMovie and naturally does not have all of the features of Pro but it is lightyears more advanced than iMovie (at least it was when I had Express five years or so ago). If it is worth the money is entirely subjective.

RJSchwarz

I would say, it is worth the money. In the most recent version of iLife, iMovie has advanced significantly, compared to its previous version, and it has some nice features now, but the flexibility of FCE/FCP makes the entry price quite worth it. You can easily and very precisely manipulate multiple video and audio tracks (to begin with), which is fairly painstaking and complicated in iMovie. The workflow is much more professional, and investing time (and money) in FCE, learning its features and getting comfortable with it, means that some day in the future, you'll be ready to comfortably graduate to FCP (once you get into professional film making and begin making serious money with it...).

That said, if you are amateur film maker enthusiast with a HV-30, perhaps $200 could better serve your film making needs by purchasing some work lights and other lighting gear...

I make it three. FCE is worth the money.