Sony. Sony. Sony. Everything ktsnake said was true.
I worked for 3 years in digital imaging, and the Sony family is the ONLY one we used for our digital imaging, from still cameras to DV cams to Hi8 cams. Sony seems to be the industry standard. When it was time for me to buy my own digital still, I only looked at Sony. The DV cams they have are great--excellent features and very easy to use.
Totally off-subject, but what program are you using for film editing?