kdenlive

Can I hope that you will keep an eye out for how well each editor
supports HD Video?  I suppose that isn't required for your "convert
VHS to DVD" project, but for many other projects it will become more
and more important over the coming months and years.
When I bought my HD camcorder the only things I found that came close
were PiTiVi and kdenlive, and the latter was much more mature at the time.
I look forward to reading what you find....