I have a brand-new Panasonic LX3 ($420 at B&H). It does 720p/24, and the video quality is quite good, although you can't zoom while it's recording, and you can only record 10 minutes at a shot, no matter how big your memory card is. I'm not so sure about the audio quality. If you really care about that, I'd investigate the new Panasonic DMC-GH1 (or is it HG1?). That one does 1080p/24 or 720p/60, has attachments for an external mike, and also allows for interchangeable lenses.

Both of these are still cameras that happen to do video. I know next to nothing about the new generation of video cameras, although my wife has one of the Sony models with a built-in hard drive. One of the things that Sony got right is that they sell a DVD burner that you can plug into the camera via USB, and you can then burn out DVDs from the camera without needing a computer. That's a big win if you don't want to spend the time in iMovie.