Camcorders forum: Should I buy an old school big lens or new school compact?

Hi Folks,

I have what will probably seem to most as a stupid noob question but I am sure there are many out there looking at relatively budget camcorders and wondering the same so here goes nothing. Ok so I want a relatively budget camcorder and don't want to spend above £200 with is about $320 for the benefit of our American friends, but I am finding certain things a little confusing, in particular the mega pixels element, well I understand what mega pixels are in regards to still cameras and I presume it's the same deal for camcorders but what I don't get is why this new generation of ultra compact cameras like the Toshiba Camileo S30 has a resolution of 8 megapixels listed in its specs while cameras which cost almost twice as much like the JVC Everio GZ-HM445 or Panasonic HDC-SD40 have something around 1.5, which from what I have read isn't really enough to shoot full hd anyway and is one or those interpolated pixels trick type things. So as you can image I am wondering which will shoot the better quality videos, the other thing is and this is the reason I am leaning towards models like the Panasonic HDC-SD40 over these new and trendy tiny little compact ones is because they have what looks like much bigger lenses and most of what I shoot will probably be indoors and even I know that for cameras to work well in low light conditions the bigger the lens the better, so I guess I am just assuming these new smaller lens compact types won't work as well for shooting indoors. But I think I have also read that the new compact flip style offer the best value in the budget market, so I don't really know what I should go for.

Anyway as you can tell I am finding comparing these specs a little confusing, but all I really want to know is what will shoot the best quality videos indoors, is it something like a Panasonic HDC-SD40 or a Toshiba Camileo S30?

Many thanks in advance,