Hi, I have quite some experience in digital camcorders and I've had a JVC GRDVL9700 for about 6 years now and it's broken so I'm looking to purchase a new camcorder.

I'm looking for a mini DV (I'm not liking the DVD camcorders) with MANUAL features like a nice focus ring, and accessory shoe for extras like a microphone.

I've been looking at older cameras that are still quite nice, like the Canon XM1, as it is much cheaper now. But then I've also been looking into HD.

I loved the Sony HDR-HC1E but it appears to have been discontinued? It had a manual focus ring, mini-dv format and was HD.

Can someone tell me if HD actually makes a huge difference to the picture quality and is better when used in editing like chroma keying etc? I'm going to purchase the Avid xpress studio, looks very nice.

So, any help?
I'm in the UK buyer and lookin to spend a maximum of £800 (approx. $1600)

well i just bought the sony vx-1000 cam, it has all that manual focus, exposure, white balance, it's mini-dv, a 3ccd cam, the mic on it is great and it's gone down in price a lot when it first came out at $4100 US, now it's around $1200 US.

yes there is a difference in high def quality, but it isn't that much of a difference, a 3ccd cam without high def can keep up. i as well do not like dvd cams, but yea the vx1000 is discontinued, but there are hundreds on e-bay, just look around.