from your initial requirement of under $300, i doubt that most of the folks here would be in the low range market so they won't have much to recommend. that said, i gave you 2 links that would give you a great selection of what is available for under $300 and you would be on a great lead to finding your camera.

thats what i used to get started on my camcorder search a few weeks ago... i ended up with the sanyo hd1 hybrid. small enough to fit in your pocket, hd recording capabalities, great clarity in both camcorder and picture mode.. the other choice was a dedicated hard drive based camcorder (the toshiba r30 or r60). but all of those cameras are more then what you limited your budget to be at.