Digital Video Cameras

I am looking into buying a digital video camera for my birthday and I am in desperate need of an opinion. My price range is from 400$-600$, since I am only paying for half of it and I can swing 300 bucks. The word on the street is that I should be looking at Sony and Canon. I've been browsing around, but would really like some insight. I am not looking for anything to film movies in, but just some short films that I always seem to end up doing as school assignments. I am looking for a good picture quality obviously and some cool optical zoom options, but other than that I wnat something that I could have fun with but also use to pursue anything more serious in the future if need be. Does anybody have any suggestions?

__________________
I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing.
T.S Eliot, "Preludes"

Go with Sony. It might be a little more expensive but, you won't regret it in the end. They've been in the digital market for 3 years now. If I had the money, I'd buy one tomorrow. I believe they are the best. Go with Sony. If you buy it, it will record. Ok, that was just stupid.

__________________
"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

Man, I want a digital video camera so bad. I know they are expensive, but I need one. You know how sometimes you want to buy something so badly (especially something expensive), and then you get the thing, and after that, you never use it? Well, that's not me and my digital camcorder. I'd play with that thing all the time.

I would have to agree with John, I have a Samsung, it sucks, my friend has a Sony, it is really clear digital editing.

For shear quality vs. price, I would go with the Panasonic GS-120. I have a GS200 and am incredibly impressed with the quality of the image it captures, which is given by the 3CCDs it has. The GS200 only has some small improvements over the GS120, like a remote, so while I haven't actually used a GS120, I can vouch that the image quality on it will be top notch for the price range.

I should add in though, that the EIS (Electronic Image Stabilizer) on the PV-GS200 isn't all that amazing, but as long as you keep it using only the optical zoom and not the digital zoom, you should be fine. Of course, if you use a tripod it'd be fine either way (only gets shaky when handheld in digital zoom, which is fairly expected anyways). But the poor performance of the EIS was something I noticed right away, but wasn't nearly enough to make me return it and get a Sony.

__________________
Horror's Not Dead
Latest Movie Review(s): Too lazy to keep this up to date. New reviews every week.

Sony is great for in-camera editing. I got to use one for a class and it was so easy to learn, not to mention that it was great for when you needed to follow a person. Yes Sony does have better Electronic Image Stabilizer but it's nothing to get worked up about. You can make great films and you don't even need zoom to do so.