About php.ini maximum memory limit and .htaccess and .co.uk domain?

[fantasy]

Hi everyone

I'm thinking of joining to HostGator...
for the hatchling (smallest 50GB plan)
my current host www.streamline.net for my site www.alphagaming.co.uk

allows unlimated space, but only 8MB limit on PHP scripts, so now my image galleries and everything is grinding to a holt with maximum memory errors.... and slow loading speeds...
Alot of people on my CMS software's page www.joomla.org are complining and saying the most PHP needs to be 32MB at least for loading....
also streamline does NOT have Cpanel, only a basic database and account editor, no page stats or anything????

I need a host with a good rep like this... also want to have .htaccess files allowed so I can use Search Engine Optimisation, as at the moment my site has hardly ANY visitors

If this host is right for a multimedia gaming website, then how do I move my old .co.uk domain to the new one... as i'm leaving my old host becasuse it takes a day, not SECONDS like this site, to talk to an expert.. and I want FULL CPanel control over my stuff

Is anyone using a joomla CMS powered site like mine.. is this host right for PHP multimedia driven sites...

thanks.. look forward to hearing from you