One tid bit that no one mentions here - if you are going to go into DSLR, choose carefully about which manufacturer you want to go with.
Canon and Nikon are the two best manufacturers. Sony makes a decent dSLR, as does Olympus, etc. but they rarely come up to Nikon and Canon in terms of output quality (especially at higher iso ratings), feature set, overall build quality. Canon and Nikon also are well known for their glass in the business - there's a reason why on the sidelines you'll see the white of a Canon L lens or the blackness of the Nikon lens and body; although there are some other manufacturer bodies being used - nikon and canon have the greatest presence.
It won't matter too much for your first camera as chances are you'll end up getting a kit with pre-bundled lenses. The issue becomes as you purchase glass. If you really get into photography, you'll find you'll spend significantly more on glass than on the camera body (even if you were to buy a $10K camera body, chances are you'll spend more on glass in the long run). As the glass is a major investment - that investment also makes it more challenging to just swap manufacturers since lenses are not compatible across nikon/canon/sony/olympus/etc. Basically, what I'm saying is, if you're going into dSLR land now, don't invest heavy into glass until you've found a system that you really like and feel you'll want to stick with.
Some good places to research camera bodies, including in depth reviews, samples, noise graphs, etc. is:
dpreview.com
steves-digicams.com
luminous-landscape.com
digitalcamerareview.com (good reviews, but I don't like their advertising)
and there are others that provide good reviews too, but these should get you started.
My personal favorite is dpreview, only because they provide extremely in depth reviews, flaws, things the camera excels at and comparison photos between a given camera and others in its same genre. Note that not every camera is reviewed, but they do have a lot. Their forums are kinda rough tho and I long ago stopped posting there.
I've shot with Kodak (back when they made the DCS pro cameras), Fuji (nikon body, fuji sensor and electronics), Nikon and Canon. Personally I like Nikon. Others like Canon and others like Olympus, sony, etc. For each manufacturer you'll find people that like that manufacturer and can give you an opinion about why that one is best. Look for the sample photos, resolving capability of the sensor, issues with the camera, ISO performance (ie: if a dSLR can't shoot above iso 200 without adding a ton of noise or major smearing, it's one to steer away from). Megapixels is not the end all be all way to choose a camera. Anything 6 mpix or greater that generates a quality image will print a great 8x10 (I have some that are 13x19 and 16x20's that are prints from a 6 mpix camera that came out wonderful). Check multiple reviews to make sure you understand the strengths and weaknesses of a camera before you choose.
Granted, this may sound scary, but one you really start looking, it's not as daunting as it may seem as you'll start to know what to look for in a camera.
