i have Ulead MediaStudio, and was able to aquire for around $150 becasue of an upgrade and some discount thing.

for the MediaStudio is, its by far the best deal out there for professional video editing.

If money is no object at all, sure FCP is going to do you somewhat better (though how much) in the end.

But if there is anything you could spend that 500-600$ that you save if you purchase Ulead, i would say thats more important (ie spend the money on a better camera) because the Ulead really doesn't give you very many limits, PERIOD, and certainly almost done that you'd have no problem with in more expensive NLE's