I have been out of the DV/HDV game for a while now, and I'm interestin in catching up on some knowlegde. If I use Vegas 5.0, what would I need to edit 24f XH A1 footage, hardware and all? Also, I have Magic Bullet Editor and was wondering if that would work on the XH A1 footage. Thanks.

CineForm.
For Vegas 5, it's effectively the only way. You could use HDVSplit for capture, and convert, but you won't be able to put the native footage directly on the timeline. You need at least Vegas 6, and preferably Vegas 7.