For lower end video camera, Canon and Sony are good. Canon has a wormer slightly more saturated image than Sony. Digital Zoom is a Marketing Technical term for what realy is blowing up pixels, nothing more, you can achieve the same result in any entry level video editing software. However, for the past few years the new player has been Panasonic, their video cameras quality has blown away both Sony and Canon both in term of Optics (they use Leica lenses in their prosumer line don't know about their consumer line) and electronics which translate in superior quality. Try to get 3CCD price for 3CCD cameras are a bit more expensive, but the quality you'll get will be worth the extra price. I also think sony is coming out with an HD consumer line camera for under $2000.