OMG lord rbcp has graced this thread.
Seriously though thanks. I've seen some of your youtube clips and they are great. Glad you can chime in on this request for advice. Just please don't tell me that I can make a camcorder using parts from my toaster.
I've worked with minidv tapes(back in college, I look film101 for kicks) on OSX and it sucked big time. A lot of time and effect even for a 30minute clip. Which is why I'm hesitant on the minidv camcorders. I'm heading back to school for a masters so I'd like to document part of this segment in my life and also do a crap load of fake interviews.
Now with HighDef, I'm mainly concerned about being future proof. I figured with HighDef I'll at least be ahead of the game by a few months. The one that I mentioned from Sony appears to be comparable in size to any other standard HighDef camcorders. Plus it has a harddrive so it'd be less of a hassel in some ways.
I haven't done much research into a DVDR camcorders but will definitely look into it and probably shop around to see what the average prices are retail.