I bought a Sony TRV280, (Consumer Reports recommended its' predecesor TRV260 as Best Buy) and I have no complaints about it. Cost me slightly over $300 but it has a lot of features including DVD/VCD direct burning. A feature I had a little problem with, becuase of my CD Burner brand, but I believe I found a way around it.
For the features, it's a bargain.
Would like to keep it under $500 if possible, but willing to spend a little more if REALLY worth it...
Use: For family videography, nothing fancy, but capable of a variety of situations (beach, snow, sports, indoors).
Here's what I'm considering:
CANON
ZR200 ($399) or ZR300 ($499) or Elura 80 ($549 or Elura 90 ($699)
SONY
HC32 ($499) vs. HC43 ($499)
PANASONIC
GS31 ($399) vs. GS35 ($469)
Just give me your recommendation and 1 or 2 reasons why!
Note: I bought a Sony DCR-TRV8 about 6 years ago, and it just melted down on a trip to Mexico last year. No obvious traumatic incident, just sudden onset of intermittant 'dripping or running' of the picture. A little leary of Sony, therefore... Did love the camcorder while it lasted, however.

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