Small External Monitor solution...
 

This gadget has the same resolution as the Marshall HD monitors (800x480) and seems to be a real viable option for using as a field monitor and keeping it on camera for handheld work. According to this review by Engadget, it will input and output HD...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/12/cowon-a3-review/

Not sure exactly how it would interface with the XHA1 but it seems to have a lot of potential. The other great thing is the overwhelming support it has for so many different video formats....great for keeping the latest version of your reel handy when you bump into those Hollywood producers on the plane.

Or when you fly them on their private jets =)

You could also record through the av or comp in if you wanted to, but i can't tell by looking at the specs whether or not it the quality would be any good.

The specs on this at BH list only a composite in....not component. So we would be limited to SD feed to the unit if it even works. It says it can record video through this input....but does it display it full screen if you want it to? And even though it isn't HD, wouldn't it still be a lot better than the LCD that built into the A1 (or the H1 that I have!)

I'd definitely like to learn some more about this.

The PDF manual states that the input and recording is limited to 720x480 and further more it says the the recording screen is not displayed on the LCD. So the question is, does the unit show a full screen display of the video input prior to hitting record? This is what we want anyway. While I found a few quick tutorials on youtube about this, all they do is go into the menu and show you how to record video in, but they never have anything actually hooked up or do they ever hit record....so all we know is that it can do this....but we don't actually get to see it in progress. hmmm....

Not sure if this will help but I own an earlier model of the cowon, the A2. Looks almost identical physically, but i'm not sure if the interface is the same. When Ive recorded tv with it, it displays an almost full screen real time display of what's being recorded. Almost, because, as far as i remember, there was a small side and top interface bar. I'm going to fire it up and do some tests with it again- had been thinking about using it for an external monitor but never got round to it.

Excellent, let us know what you find...

Ok, so i fired up my cowon a2 and you can completely remove the onscreen controls on the video recording screen, which is nice.

Can anyone tell me what leads I"l need to connect to the XHA1? It has a 3.5mm jack a/v in socket, to which i connect a 3 phono lead when i want to record tv. Is there a lead i can buy to convert those 3 phonos to a single 3.5mm jack to whack into the a1's 3.5mm a/v socket?

You'll probably need something like this amongst other creative connections to make it work:

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-5mm-to-RCA-A-V...QQcmdZViewItem

You could just get a BNC to RCA converter and hook it to the BNC output on the A1.

But you still have to get it to a 3.5mm jack for final connection to the Cowan...

I took it as he already had a cable to use the RCA plug but wanted to convert that back down to 3.5mm to plug into the A1. In the picture of the Cowen revew, it shows the cables... he just needs to switch the "V2" switch and use the BNC. Less cables to mess with.

IF this proves to be a viable external monitor, I'll buy one and make a short cable to go either directly 3.5 to 3.5 or 3.5 to BNC without use of adapters... Can probably get some custom made by some online cable houses.

Still, how good will this be? Sure we now have a high res monitor, but we can only feed it a standard def signal. Is that going to be good enough to get accurate HD focus? I have a friend who is shooting with the RED camera and they have it hooked to Panasonic 1280x720 17" LCD and he said it is still hard to check for accurate focus using Cine lenses with shallow DOF.

I am sure this will be better than the H1 LCD for sure, but how much better than the A1? The size and weight make it extremely interesting though....plus it could double as a small device to carry your footage on....like Stephen said. There are some definite positives about it.

Yes the cowon a2 comes with a cable, just need to get that to the a1. I'll find one shortly and see if it's any good :) cheers jerome.

Got the necessary adaptors today. It displays the picture but it is appears larger than the screen of the cowon actually is. As if it's zoomed in on the cowon. I've fiddled around with the settings but to no avail. It's the same for HD or SD recording. Any ideas?

I wasn't too impressed with the quality of the image on the cowon either- seems sharpish but it's SD and its no where near as lustrous as the onboard LCD.