Canon HV20

Pros: Stunning Video, Manual Focus, great auto focus and image stabilization, HDMI out, many more good features

Cons: haven't found any yet

Summary: Buy this camera!

This camera produces near professional quality video at a price most of us can afford. Add in all of the "prosumer" features like manual focus, optical and electronic image stabilization, HDMI out, a mic input (mini), a headphone jack, an accessory shoe. This camera is loaded. I ordered mine as soon as it was available through B&H Photo and have had it for a couple of days now. Right out of the box (after charging the battery) I recorded 3 minutes of video in my home under less than ideal lighting, plugged it directly into my JVC HDTV with my HDMI cable (not provided in the box) and watched stunning video. I'm an Army broadcaster and I've used lot s of professional equipment and I can say that this is the best video I've ever seen from a one chip camera period. Sony offers an HDV camera, but I chose to stick with Canon as I've come to notice that their products produce superior imagery, and I wasn't let down. I also have a 3 CCD Panasonic DV camera. I thought the image quality was good. It doesn't compare to HD. Going from SD mini DV to HD on mini dv is like going from VCD to DVD. I had no problem with Windows Vista. Once I loaded the software and drivers I plugged it in to my HP dv9230 and captured the HD into Windows MovieMaker with ease. Haven't tried it with Premiere Elements yet, but I'll assume it shouldn't be a problem. I would mention that if you plan on editing your video on your pc you may want to go with a higher end pc with a good video card. Your old Pentium 4 may not cut it. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 was that I always leave room for improvement. With this camera there is not much to improve upon! Way to go Canon!