Well what ive been hearing is that Mini DV is still the way to go for quality, HDD Ive heard is improving, but if your looking for the quality, then Go Mini DV (tape) but dont take my word for it, there are loads of reviews out there from pretty reputable sources, check out any good magazine on the subject, and you should get some good info there!
and as for the mount, yeah, Ive got that very mount that Andy has pointed you too, in fact, that company LIE blatantly, they never designed a thing, everything was designed and manufactured by Manfrotto, so is very good quality, we were having a discussion about it only a month or 2 ago, good for more than just camcorders, its good for photography, to use a previous example...
So on the whole, I agree with andy, the mount and camcorder is the way to go!