Hi folks... I'm having a little trouble locating a thread about transferring tape from the XH 1A. Not wanting to use her for anything other than 'back up archiving' I would like to use the least expensive HD camcorder worth owning to transfer footage. Seems like the Vixia series was mentioned? (It's Monday... brain dead...ha,ha)

Also someone had a terrific thread about using a netbook and recording straight to that hard drive ...again using tape only as the archive back up.

Would someone please assist with links and/or info? All suggestions GREATLY appreciated.

DVInfo folks ROCK!!! Thanks ahead for help :-) God Bless, Roze

See http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xl-h-series-hdv-camcorders/72806-heres-your-900-playback-deck-24f-30f-frame-mode.html

Written for Canon XL H series but applies to XH as well.

Short answer: Canon VIXIA HV20, HV30 or HV40. Hope this helps,

To record directly to a netbook, or any other computer, the machine needs to have a firewire input. I haven't seen one on a netbook yet, but many mid to high end laptops have it.

Thanks Chris and Annie for quick response! :-) The next question is... Will be using as the occasional "b" camera but mostly using as a playback deck... is there any true difference on playback ability? Wondering if extra cost for higher end Vixia is worth it?

Footage will likely be used on some large screens for lectures, etc. at a local university and some high schools (I also teach NLE for younger folks interested in this as a career...teenagers ROCK at video/editing).

In a perfect world some of this may make it to PBS but that's down the road. For now just getting the feet wet and getting back into the groove of production. Sure feels GOOD... didn't realize how much I missed this! Thanks again for all the terrific help. I'm still trying to locate that thread about the netbook Annie. Will forward a link if it can be found. Very interesting the way the person had it rigged up. Made perfect sense. Have a good one!

The Canon HV-30 and HV-40 have HDMI out, which is great for showing on large HDTVs. I use an HV-30 as the deck for the tapes from my XH-A1. While I am capturing the tapes to the computer through the firewire port, I am viewing the footage full screen via the HDMI port on another wide screen lcd, instead of just in the capture window of the editing software. The HV-30 plays all the frame rates of the XH-A1. Other mini DV devices than canon will not play the tapes captured in 30 or 24 fps. They may not even play back the 60i HDV footage either.

The HV-30 is an excellent B cam for the A1.

Hope this helps.

Hope this helps.

THANKS Roger! That's exactly the info I needed. Now to find a good used one for the right $. Fortunately nothing is pressed on a deadline right now. REALLY appreciate the details. Hope all is well in Florida! God Bless, R

Here's the thread... enjoy :-)
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/tapeless-video-recording-solutions/144308-my-experience-using-netbook-dte.html