I wouldn't worry too much about it. You have to ask yourself what you are filming for. Will it be a web-based TV show, an on-air TV show, DVD, personal use? Do you plan on selling your footage? These are the things you should ask yourself when looking at a camera. Since you have mentioned that you are looking to be cost effective I doubt you'll be doing much with your footage that would require HD. The only people that need to worry about HD are those that are producing TV shows on channels that support HD and want to have HD quality shows. That market is very immature right now and only the big players are there. Guys like us still have a few years with our SD cameras before we have to worry about HD. So, get yourself a camera and get out there and get some footage.