I'm relatively new at underwater video and video in general. Doing my research I had to ask myself some questions. What type of housing do I want? Mechanical or Manual controls?

Not to take you away from here, but there is a lot of good info on www.scubaboard.com. Scroll down to the Underwater Video forum. Checkout the subforum about housing manufacturers and see who makes what type housing for what camcorders. Sony has the most of everything.

I was looking at the HV-20 myself and ended up with an Sony HC-7. I wanted a housing with electronic controls and because the HV-20 doesn't have LANC connections I couldn't find a suitable housing.

I might make some suggestions on a housing, too. Having been around a few now I think Light&Motion is very hard to beat. It depends on what your wallet says. They aren't cheap.

You can get manual housing from almost anyone and they are a bunch less money. If you plan to travel pay particular attention to the weight of the housings by different manufacturers. Some weigh as much as 20 lbs. Some others, like my SeaTool weigh in at less than 4 Lbs. Much better when traveling by plane. The airlines aren't getting looser with weight restrictions.

In general I'm saying to look at housings first and camcorders second.

One on-line retailer to check out for some possible ideas is B&H Photo Video | Digital Cameras, Camcorders