As a newbie to the digital world, your advice would be appreciated.

[Koremitsu]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first digital camera, and I'm looking for some advice. I've done a little research, so hopefully the following information will help you help me.
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I've got about $1,000 to work with for everything (camera [lens included], camera case, upgraded 512 MB memory card, and whatever else I might need). Although a digital SLR looks inviting, when the lenses are added in, the price comes up a bit too high for my budget. So, I'm probably looking at the higher end of the point and click market, or the SLR-shaped or SLR-like products.
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I guess I'm looking for a camera that's good all-around ...but something I can perhaps use to learn/practice the basics of photograpy from...so having Manual settings (ISO, shutter speed, etc... )is a must. I'm kind of curious about how filters might help me take better pictures too, so something with an adapter for that would be preferable as well.
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I'll probably be using it mainly for taking still pictures (nature/birds). But I'll also be using it to take pictures of my cats(though lazy, they do move sometimes ;) ), the innevitable family photo, and perhaps some sporting events (soccer).

Question: I've heard that EVF viewfinders...(or perhaps it was digital cameras in general?)...were very poor for taking action pictures...especially of children/small animals...because of the lag time between the shutter-button press, and the actual time the picture is taken. Is this a serious problem I should be concerned with?

Because I'm looking more at fixed lens cameras due to budget, I'd like something with a moderate to large amount of optical zoom (5x-10x).

I've been looking around, and here are the ones I've seriously considered so far:

+++++Fuji FinePix S20 Pro
This was my front-runner for a while. It seems to have most of what I'm looking for...seems to give great highlights due to it's new CCD configuration type, but from what I've read, its ISO is barely usable above the lowest manual setting, and it has a small tendency to have problems with chromatic aberation and purple fringing.
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+++++Canon Powershot Pro 1
Sounds like a good camera, but there seem to have been some manufacturing problems that have surfaced. (dirt in lens, poor shutter speed -possibly fixed by new firmware version?, use of USB 1.0 rather than 2.0, and some excessive noise above the primary manual ISO setting...though not nearly as bad as the S20 Pro). Even though its manual settings are more restricted than the Fuji S20 Pro, from what I've seen in reviews, the extended settings are often restricted/not-very-usable on most digital cameras. (perhaps an untrue perception?) As far as picture quality, I would go with this one...but I'm worried about the manufacturing problems I've read about.
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+++++Nikon Coolpix 8800
Looks like it has a wide range of settings, and there have been a few good reviews, but I've just started looking around for information on it.
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+++++Any opinions on these, or perhaps some other cameras I should be considering?
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Any Help/opinions you would care to give would be appreciated.
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Thank you,
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Koremitsu
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Oh...one more thing. The pictures would be printed no larger than 8"x10" (slightly smaller than A4), or viewed on the computer. So I'm thinking 8MP would be more than adequate, and probably 5MP would be a good minimum baseline to start with.