When I scouted around for my PC1E (E for Europe) I rejected the Panasonic (or was it JVC) only because I needed it for a January production (neices son not video production) and they were promising it in one month and I have waited in vain in the past for vapourware. The upshot is my PC1E gobbles battery charge especially taking single shots. I was warned buy the competition! Newer models are better and there is always memory stick (et al). And although I have low (2 lux do ya?) light settings it trades time for apperture, so if the subject moves in low light nothing looks god, movie or still. The lesson is if you think you will take snaps make sure it has a flash - for that price it is essential. And you will start taking snaps - trust me - it has a 750 shot memory on 1/2 hour tape. If you are into video editing insist on firewire/IEE1394/I-link (all same thing).
Oh and if you think you can record from a PC back to the camcorder do the research. A widget to do that can be purchased from a third part like Digivision (PM me for URL) and they work a treat but not always on all machines so do that bit of research before you buy.
Finally, the old video8 cassettes have digital versions (As opposed to mini DV) and they reportedly can record "analogue in" with a widget but do the research!
?let us know what you get