I just bought a Sony minidv (dcr hc85) before my trip to hawaii. It's a great camera with lots of editing on board. It will also film in true widescreen 16:9 ratio. Has a 2 megapixel resolution for great video quality and still picture quality with the built-in flash. Was a little pricey at $999, but the best of the minidv's for the price. Of course there is the high def camera's out there, but wasn't willing to spend $3500 on them! Now I am just partial to sony, so you should search around for reviews on camera's if you don't have a preference. Here's the link for the camera I bought, and they gave me 18 months same as cash financing!
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...ycamCamcorders