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Hi MDRJ! I hear what you're saying! Video is important to me as well. That's one reason I went Micro Four-Thirds (Panasonic Lumix GF-1).
If you can live without the video, there's likely a number of good choices on the used market.
But if you do need the HD video, and $300 is your budget, you probably are looking at a P&S. I think the Panasonic TZ5 may be the camera you are looking for??
Good luck!
P.S. I agree with the other posters here - P&S is *not* good to learn with (for that you'd need manual control over aperture and shutter speed, and exposure compensation... at the very least).
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Point and Shoot Elf series - approx 300
CANON SD940 IS BLK 12.1MP 4X W/A 2.7i
does HD video
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I like Canon P&S cameras though... just a note and something to be aware of, typically optical zoom is not usable on the Canon's when recording video.
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I have one of the earlier ones. The trick is you have to set the zoom before you start filming. It will stay at that zoom level throughout. I really like that 940.
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I'm seriously thinking about the Canon S90 (or next version) for my 'compact'. f2.0 is really appealing! But I do like my G10 too. Unfortunately neither the S90 or G10/11 do HD video, but the standard def. video quality on the G10 isn't bad. Of course, it doesn't compare to the Pano GF-1 video, or Sony CX12 camcorder but hey, it's a 'compact' :-) I sometime do think the best camera is the one you'll carry with you and use often.
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the Canon SD940 does hi-res video, but it's only 720p, not true hi-def at 1080p. to get that, you're into DSLRs like the Canon 5D2, or the Nikon D90/D5000, etc.
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Just few days ago I was going over the Gregslist/montreal and I was amassed how chip you can buy 10D now, it was at $300. I payed $2100 when it first came out. I think I would get a Canon 10D over Rebel XL. You can not get good Nikon for that much money. I say 10D.
