Choosing miniDV Camcorders

Choosing miniDV Camcorders 

I'm in the market for a miniDV camcorder. I've never owned one. My cash limit is $800. But one in the $600 range would be great. I'm mostly wanting to know which brands everyone has had success with or brands that have problems. I know sometimes it can vary depending on the model of the brand. Are there certain ones that the DV video converts to MPEG-2 well. Somewhere I remember reading some brands resulting video doesn't convert well. Doesn't matter too much how big the LCD screen is or if it has loads of effects features (sepia, b/w,etc). But it does have to have at least some type of LCD screen. And has to have a resulting clean DV video image. Thanks In Advance!

Progressive 

Thanks for the advice on the progressive feature. I forgot about that feature. Would work great with the CCE MPEG-2 encoder. That feature would be great to have but if it kicks the models out of my range I'll settle for just interlaced. I've done work with borrowed VHS-C home movies from my grandma for a while and the resolution sucks. It's ok for VCD, Divx, etc., but I'm about to move to DVD recordable stuff so I want it to look good. Ie: DV to MPEG-2 and AC3 on DVD-R. Anybody else have some suggestions. TIA!

bb, what does progressive DV look like on tv? Does it have any disadvantages at all to record to progressive scan DV?

@theReal: Well, you know what it looks like if you ever watched DivX on TV... Some people say interlaced looks smoother in motion, but I don't see much of a difference. bb