I think you have a healthy choice - whether or not you can touch them at a store is a different issue. A few "clarifications", if you don't mind:
* The DCR-TRV330, Digital8 tape format, records high quality standard definition video (480 horizontal lines of video resolution) in NTSC "DV" format. This is pretty much identical to digital video recorded to miniDV tape. Connect a firewire cable to the camcorder's 4-pin DV port (i.LINK) and computer's firewire port with a firewire cable, put the camcorder in Play mode and import the video at a low-compression 25 mbps data stream.
* "700xdigital zoom": Digital zoom should be disabled. Nice marketing (bigger must be better), but can cause captured video to appear blurry, especially at higher zoom levels. At worst, use no more than 1.5x optical zoom amount if digital zoom is required. Better to disable it and be done with it.
* "decent sound": At very high audio levels, any camcorder's built-in manual audio control can be overwhelmed. The result can be muddy audio, and audio spikes can cause static to be recorded. No post production can fix this muddy or "peaked" audio. Loud audio at low frequencies can cause enough vibrations to cause hard disc drive camcorder's to stop recording to the hard disc. This is a protection mechanism. When the audio source is very far away, the camcorder mics have no idea what they should be listening to - or for. The built-in auto mic gain will record everything. They cannot "filter" like human ears (+ brain) can. It is possible to use an external mic closer to the audio source - in this case, that could be a challenge. Too many variables and VERY long discussion on defining "decent sound". We can revisit if needed.
* "Not much low-level light shooting is done unless...": If you NEED it - even once - then you need it. In this case, how about indoor video lights? Most consumer cams cannot do well in low light because the small lenses and imaging chips just can't get there. The alternative is big lenses and imaging chips. If small camcorder foot print is required, then we're stuck.
* Wind reduction: most consumer camcorders have a "wind reduction" mode. Check the menu selections in the camcorder manual. Electronic wind reduction is OK... The real trick is creating a dead-air space beteen the mic and the audio source so the wind does not blow over the mic. There are a few companies that make "fuzzies" to fit different camcorders - including consumer cams. Rykote is one. I have fuzzies for my HDR-FX1 and HDR-HC1 built-in mics (in addition to "dead cats" for external mics).
The Canon HV40 and Sony HDR-HC9 are miniDV tape based camcorders capable of capturing DV standard def and HDV high definition video. The Sony HDR-CX550 and Canon HF S200 are flash memory based camcorders that can capture very compressed AVCHD format MTS files. AVCHD compressed video is more of a resource hog (in computers) than HDV. A single 60 minute MiniDV tape can hold up to 63 minutes of HDV forma video. Flash memory cards come in different sizes - and Class 4 or faster are required to captured high quality AVCHD-compressed video. High compression and fast action don't get along too well. To get big zoom, the best you can do is to add a tele-lens (screw mount mating the camera's "lens filter" mount). From the camcorder manufacturers, these are usually double the effective zoom for those far-away shots. If you need to get even closer, rather than turning on the camcorder's digital zoom, you may be better off using the zoom capability in whatever video editor you are using. Either way, it is digital zoom... High definition consumer cams capture at 1080 horizontal lines of video resolution, so you'll be clearer right off the bat.
Since we don't know where you are, we don't know if there are other resources for shopping. Fry's Electronics and sometimes even Radio Shack will have models the camera stores you mentioned do not display. You probably won't find the miniDV tape cams in stores. bhphotovideo is a great online resource...