Consumer camcorder search

Aloha all!

I'm faculty and "the video guy" at a small private university. We have a lab with 21 Macs running FCP Studio 2.

Currently, for the Introduction to Broadcasting class, we have assorted Sony mini-DV camcorders. I put in a grant request some time back, asking for 16 new cameras, flash-card based, at an stimated cost of $500 each.

Well, I got it! YAY!

So now the search is on. $500/unit is the total cost, so it has to include extras like media cards, batteries, whatnot.

My grocery list of desirable items includes:
-SD/SDHC card compatibility
-recording to .mov
-both standard and high definition modes

What would you buy? Feel free to include cameras that meet none of my criteria, but if you do, I'd love yo here why you made that choice as well.

Mahalo!
Tom G

The difference between theory and reality is that, in theory, there is no difference between theory and reality.