Welcome to indietalk!
The good news is cameras are like cars and computers and soda.
All the top brands make excellent products and individuals have
their own personal preferences.
I happen to like Dr. Pepper and don't like Coca-Cola.
My dad was a Ford man - my uncle a Chrysler man.
There are Mac/PC debates all the time.
I'm a JVC user. Starting with the DV500 and now using the HD250.
I dislike Canon. I also own a Sony PD-170 and have used Panasonic
and both the SR11 and the FX1000.
Once you move into the $1500 range and above all the major cameras
will do the job. There are three things that are VERY important when
getting a camera:
Three CCD’s or CMOS
Manual controls for the iris, shutter, focus and white balance.
A microphone input.
After that you won't really be able to tell the difference between a
JVC, Panasonic, Canon or Sony other than the design and how the
options are accessed.
Between the SR11 and the FX100 the choice is clear: the SR11
doesn't have a mic input which severely limits the movie maker.