Total mic confusion: Continuing saga.
 

Let me preface this with I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Having cleared the air, I've been working on a short film for several years. It mostly involves puppets, stop motion, sets, blah blah weee. Think of a poor man's Dark Crystal.
I now find myself having to deal with sound recording. I need to find out what the best options for me are. I've read numerous posts on what mics for what situations, but now I'm more confused than before. I confuse easily though, so that's not saying much.
I need to record dialogue for the puppets, which is all post. Then I'll need to record for the live actor shots which I've yet to shoot. I'm looking to also find a decent device to record directly into.
I know you get what you pay for, so... My price range for a mic is about a grand. My price range for the recording drive is around $500.00
Best I can do at this time.

I've looked at the R1 Recorder, but since I again don't know what I'm doing, I don't know if a quality mic will plug into this sucker.
http://www.audiomidi.com/common/cfm/...t.cfm?pid=5795
Maybe someone else in this vast knowledge pool has a better suggestion.
Please... Help meeeeee.