HD Camcorder necessary for Video to Internet?

[airtrafficone]

GDay again! In producing a high quality yet relatively small file size video for the Internet, do I have to use an HD Camcorder? On the one hand, I don't want to be caught out by having a Standard Definition Camcorder only but am unsure of how to proceed into the realm of HD.

I want good voice pickup and sound reproduction for a social/economic/political commentary short video series. Would I need a camcorder with 'professional' type microphone connectors so I could attach a quality external mic with wind noise suppression for instance?

Crisp, clear video is, of course, highly desirable.

Would I need a 3 CCD unit or would a good, high end SONY single CMOS camcorder do the trick?

I was thinking about the SONY HDR-FX7 if I went NUTS with the budget, or a SONY HDR CX7 or SR7 in a single CCD unit. I also like the Panasonic units as their lenses seem to be up there in quality.

I also need advice on suitable software to edit the video and get it looking good prior to upload.

While I think of it. File sizes. For each one minute of 1080 HD, what is the file size for a certain viewing screen size online? How does that compare with standard definition file sizes. See - I am confused!!

Lots of questions but I need lots of answers!!

Cheers. Gordon