Camera Choices

Total beginner here. My planned use is in shooting Indie films. I need to select an HD camera. I plan to shoot both indoors (some of it low light) as well as outdoors. When I first started out with my research I was thinking I wanted to shoot 1080 24p to emulate the look of film. But now I'm not sure as it seems some think 1080 30p looks better. Enventually I would like to be able to generate footage that is appropriate for film festivals, contests, etc. My budget for the Cam is 4 to 8k. I know I will need to spend money for microphones, lighting, etc. As as far NLE's I'm looking at Premier. I have a quad core Intel PC with 6 GB of ram. If I have to go with FCP I suppose I can get a MAC.

It seems like the more I research this stuff the more confused I get. I was focussing on the Sony EX3 then I starting reading about the downside of long GOP and the whole inter verses intra frame compression and of course rolling shutter. It seems like most folks beleive that HDV due to it's high compression is not the best way to go. I would prefer to go tapeless. The more I read the more it seems that ergonomics is not something to be ignored and that something with the ergonomics of a should mount cam like a Panasonic GY-HM700 would be desired over a hand held. Plus I am unsure if it would be wise of me to choose a camera that with a fixed lense as I would like maximum flexibility down the road.

So in lieu of actual camera suggestions I was hoping for feedback on the pros and cons of the various technologies and feature options with my stated use in mind (IE indi film, in doors and out with probable low light requirements). CMOS verses CCD? 1/3" CCD verese 1/2" CMOS? XDCAM verses DVC Pro verese HDV, verses ?. True native HD verses other technologies. 4:2:0 verses 4:2:2. I know the most imporant variable as far as getting a quality end result is the skill of the operator but that being said I don't want my selection to prevent me from being able to generate footage with excellent picture quality and ease of editing. Sorry for the long post but it seems to more I research the harder it becomes for me to choose the best combination of technologies and features within my budget

Any feedback would be much appreciated.