Anyone used to dealing with decent semi-pro camcorders? I'm looking for a reasonable miniDV camcorder that's capable of good useable footage in an ordinary lit room - no heavy duty lighting rigs - HD capable preferably.
I'm looking at
Canon HV30 (new)
Canon XL1 (s/h)
Canon XM1 or 2 (s/h)
Sony VX1000
Are there any others I should consider? Which camera would you go for, given the choice and your experience? It's just that, even after reading reams of the stuff, nothing leaps out as THE one.
I've no idea mate, the differences between Video cameras are a mystery to me. I remember it was a real mind-bender trying to choose mine, you have my sympathies! 
I have a Sony basic consumer model. The thing I love on it is the hard drive, amazing time saver. The thing I didn't like about it was the fact that editing Sony's AVCHD files on my Quad core processor system brought the machine to a crippling halt. So I ended up downgrading all my videos to PAL mpegs anyway.
Adobe Premiere now supports AVCHD but I haven't tried editing them in Adobe yet, hopefully it's faster now.
I believe Simon Giraffe man has the XL1? Sounds familiar.
Alright boys!
The XL1 is a good camcorder but it's front heavy - as well as heavy. It's also overkill for what it does. It's USP was that it has interchangeable lenses, but they're so expensive and so specialized that it not really relevant. It makes you feel like a proper filmmaker though.
The PAL version of the XM1 has no analogue in, which means you can't use it for digitising old footage - don't know how important that is , but it's a bit of an oversight. Never used the XM2, but it didn't set the world alight when it came out.
Never used the VX1000, but the VX2000 is a great cam and had very good low light performance. The Canons are traditionally not thought to be very good with imaging red -tend to flare.
Don't know about the HV30, but I wouldn't think it would be much cop - it's not a pro cam. A lot of these consumer cams don't have manual focus - which is an absolute must.
Sony and Panasonic own video imaging in my opinion - I'd steer clear of Canon.
My vote would be for the Panasonic DVX100 - if you can find one. It's not HD (but none of the cams you mentioned are, save HV30) but it's 24p and this will give you a much more film like image than HDV. It's also got a fairly wide zoom and the handling is brilliant.
In the XM1 price range I'd recommend the Panasonic NVMX 300. It's so small you wouldn't think it could cut it, but it outputs better images than the Sony VX2000 and it's got MF, zebra pattern and all the stuff you really need.
The 'one' by the way is the Panasonic HVX200. It's got a full widescreen CCD array, a miniDV deck and card slots, it shoots all the formats and supports proper over and undercranking. It's not even expensive for what it does. Sell your caravan and ultradoll and buy one.
Cheers guys, that's been really helpful. Now off to find suppliers.
I have a Panasonic miniDV one but I don't really know how to use it properly.
I generally just use the video function on my Powershot G9 as it's capable of HD and seems to do a decent picture.
I coughed out on a Sony Z1 a year or two ago. Still working well - very reliable. Some complain it's no good in bad light but I've had no problems. Re lighting - you can pick up work top light rigs (500 watt) for next to nothing. I use 3 costing £15 each. Well worth looking into. It makes a massive difference, espcially for web. Afraid I only know my camera so can't give you an objective opinion. Think there's a new Z1 type camera out called a Z7...might be wrong. You should also think about getting some decent compression software (if you're shooting for the web).