Sony Handycam HDR-SR11

Pros: HD video, Still photo quality, Easy to handle and control

Cons: Sound quality is absolutely abysmal. No firewire. Not much in software.

Summary: A friend and I used it in front of a green screen in both HD and SD. While the quality in SD turned out a little fuzzy, the HD video turned out great.

The microphone is not the problem with the camera, it's the audio processor. Using an internal, external, or Sony's hot shoe, the sound is always squashed to one level. There is no switch to turn the compressor off or to adjust the input beyond hi or low. Picking up sounds of a person or two talking is fine, but to record your kids recital or musical is pointless without a standalone audio recorder.