Ron,
I am pretty much a digital movie novice. I say this because I've had mine for about 4 months now.
But, I can say that I am most happy with it (a Sony DCR-TRV330). Many who have used camcorders much longer than I have played a bit with mine and were TOTALLY impressed with it. The picture quality is very good (for a consumer grade camera). The digitally enhanced zoom is the best I have seen (no blotchy pixels). And yes, it does take digital stills using an on-board memory stick. The quality of the stills is not up to that of my digital still camera. The reason is that the CCD (charge coupled device), the camera component that does the initial digital imaging, does not need to be of as high a quality for movies as the CCD used in digital cameras. So, since it is a digital movie camera first and a still camera second, the quality of the stills suffer a bit. They are OK, and will do in a pinch, but I like my Sony digital still camera much better (and it is 2+ year old technology now).
later.........Stu
http://www.stu-offroad.com