Looks like I will need to pick a video camera within the next week or two - will need to do some shooting at a family event. I know very little about video cameras - the only one I've ever had was a Panasonic mini-DV camera and I haven't used it for years.

Here is what I am looking for
- good for shooting in low light
- records either to a DVD, to an SD-Card or straight to the hard drive
- doesn't produce background noise - that could be a problem with the hard drive cameras
- very good sound recognition (or should I just pick up an external microphone for this?)
- not very expensive (under $1000)