I'm looking for a new camera after my Canon Elura 85 broke, and I'm looking at eitehr the middle price panasonic 3CCD camcorders, or I might be able to get employee price on a sony camcorder. How good of a picture does the DCR-HC96 get. It's got a 1/3" Advanced HAD™ (Hole Accumulation Diode) CCD with 2050K (effective) pixels, so says the sony website.

Any help?

3CCD Pana is probably a good idea. But you'll have to check that, hands-on. Sony camcorders have better low-light performance, but it's not a general rule.