I'm absolutely no expert on filmmaking, not even currently active in the industry, but consider the following:
HD as a recording format ís the future. No doubt about that. You can always downconvert later.
Then again, all post houses can work with digi-beta , maybe not with HD (I don't know what country you're in).
But however, I don't think you can get a decent High-def VTR and camera for less than 129.000 ?'s, leave alone the lenses.
Dó think about the SDX-900. It can make great images in SD at a modest price.