In the market for a new camcorder

Hi, I have a dv camcorder approx 15 yrs. old and it works well. I just want to get away from using cassettes. I am looking at purchasing a camcorder with high def. Don't really know if the quality of the picture will be much better than a regular hdd camcorder.
Thanks for any input

have a read of the mini dv vs dvd thread in this forum, it will help you to decide which way you want to go in terms of quality.