I'm not offended but do have to point out that you make some unfair assumptions.
I held all 3 cameras and took a bunch of photos with the 7D. When it comes to stills I would choose the D7000 over 60D and 7D (although 7D has better AF) but it's very close. But that's not the point. The point is that i don't know squat about video and since in therms of stills 7D and D7000 are very close, I'm asking about video modes. Hence my question about the bitrate and overall video mode on the mentioned cameras.
I my posts I gave you in fact some answers to what I think would be the best approach in order to help you choose.
I'll stress again some ponits.
- Forget about the bit-rate. You say you're new to video, and you'll be into a learning curve during quite some time where the bit-rate will not give you better results nor be your concern, time until the camera you've purchassed will be obsolete, and then you'll have more parameters and experience to choose the next level.
So I won't consider the bit-rate an important element at first.
Also, the bit-rate influence the storage. The more bit-rate, the more expensive it will be (more expensive cards, more HD) and the codec has to come into consideration.
You can check in the Zacuto's website footage testings where featured the 7D and the Nikon and compare.
Practically the differences will be marginal.
- In this thread, its been said that the GH2 is way ahead the 7D in terms of video capabilities, it is. But you discart the GH2 because you consider that for stills it is not up to your standards. Fair enough, it's your vision. So, no GH2.
I stressed before that you probably won't be able to see any difference in a blind test between a 7D and a GH2, because the 7D is not the 5D2 nor the 1DMK4 in terms of low-light performance. Unless you want to shoot regularly at 12800 isos, you won't notice anything. The D7000 is an excellent camera, IMO more round than the 7D.
- Then you said to possess Sony lenses. Well, Sony is doing very good video integration. I recommend you to read the articles of MR in this forum. Check "product review", letter S (Sony).
This point is important because if your camera will soon be obsolete, the lenses won't.
So, IMO, I'd see what I already have. Sony-Zeiss lenses? Perfect because Sony cameras are very involved into video. But maybe you're not convinced either about the stills of the Sony? (AF, output or whatever)
Why I was questioning some concepts before and trying to express something? Because in still, if I can make a clear difference between a P65 Phase One and a 7D, I won't be able by any means to recognise on a blind test a still image shooted by a GH2, a 7D, a Sony 77 or a D7000 in a double page printed editorial...and I bet anybody to demonstrate me the opposite. Oh, on those testings like DP review (thank god Michael Reichmann is not doing those sort of tests in Lu-La) I will see tons and tons of differences, but in the real world no. Yes you'd have a difference with a Leica M9 in print or a 5D2 in low light, but not between those cameras.
In this forum, some of the best and most experienced photographers are actually using some Red cameras stills in commercial, and they don't have 20MP, just 4-5K.
In other words, if video is really important, choose the best video tool with the one that feels better in your hands because the IQ in stills is guarantee and won't differ.
And the best video tool is the Panasonic, and also this Sony.
If, low-light and video and shallow d.o.f is important: the 5D2 is the choice and it's not in your list, then I'd go for the Nikon.
To go further, any of those camera will give you good still+video capabilities. So to conclude, in your case I'd just choose the camera that feels the more "right" in my hands, with the confidence that it will deliver very good still + video and if not, the faulty part will be me and not the cameras.
The AF performance, when talking about cameras of the entry-mid-range is very similar. You'd need to put more cash and go pro gear to access the best of AF and truly appreciate a significant advantage, the lenses involved the same.
Just my 2 cents words.
Good luck.
Ps: it's funny, just after writting this, I receive a message in my mobile from a known documentary photographer: " Hi Fred, do you still sell your _ ? - Yes, 100 euros - Ok, when can I come to pick-it ? "...it was a 5MP camera.