I need some opinions

OK everyone, I need as many responses to this topic as I can get, so try your hardest to help me out. I made a topic a while back about digital cameras, and what the best one was in your honest opinion, for those that have one. I’m going to be buying one within the next 2 weeks, and I did a little research from the last topic I made about brands and their performance. Canon, Nikon and Sony seem to be the best on the market I think, but I could be wrong since people say Sony is a little more “special” when it comes to their product.

Anyway, I’m looking for a really nice digital camera between 6-8 megapixels. I would like the camera to have a nice recording feature that captures high quality video with stereo sound, but if it doesn’t have stereo that’s fine, most cameras don’t. It would have to have at least a 2.5 viewing area and be one of the brands I listed above, but any other brand that can do what I listed would be great.

There was a nice new Sony camera that is a camcorder and digital camera in one, it’s on their website but I forgot the name of it. Something like that would be nice, but right now I’m open to anything as I really want some opinions as I’m still doing research. I may be asking for a lot, but I know what I want in a camera. So, any help is appreciated…thanks.

OK, I'm now stuck between two cameras, a Canon Powershot S80 or the new Sony Cybershot DSCN1. Both are 8MP and cost around $400-500. I've read reviews at Amazon along with some other sites, and more people seem to prefer the Sony, but I know Canon is the best out there. However, one thing the Canon model doesn't have is RAW format, which I don't know what that means in a camera. Canon seems to have more features than the Sony, but both seem to be great cameras. My budget is $500, so what would you guys suggest between the two??