If you want to buy the Sony HDD camcorders, just make sure you get those with a 1/3" chip. The size of the chip will ensure that you get the best image in low light. The 1/6" or 1/5.5" chips are not good enough, even for your normal indoor lighting, not even a fast lens will save it from excessice noise. As for the difference between the older generation CCD and CMOS, the difference will be in the absence of obvious vertical smear with bright lights such as headlights on the CMOS chips.
JVC is currently offering the GZ-MC500 (NTSC version) for only SGD999 now. It uses 3 1/4.5" CCD and microdrive. It is a cheap option but of course old technology, and it's low light performance will not be as ggod as the Sony 1/3" CCD or CMOS camcorders, but definitely better than any single 1/6" chip.
The Panasonic 3 1/6" CCD SDR-S150 is also a good option, but only in good lighting as it's small chip cannot compete against larger chips, just like PnS digital camers vs APS sized chip of DSLRs.
But my favourite has to be the upcoming Panasonic
HDC-SD1.