which to get?
 

I am considering getting the new panasonic hmc 80 because I am thinking avchd will be a nice format. However, I am really drawn to the interchangeable lens of the xl2. Anyone have any thoughts?

is there any reason you need interchangable lens when shooting weddings?

In 27 years of weddings I've never really needed a truely interchangable lens camera. I do use a WA lens attachment for much of the work (not the ceremony) but could do without it if I needed to.

If you're shooting HDSLR then of course a good lens selection is necessary but for a real video camera for weddings, not necessary. Nice to have but....

It's high definition vs. standard definition. No contest in my opinion. These
days there's not much point in choosing a standard definition camcorder
for the type of work you want to do.

We'll continue to offer support here for existing XL2 owners, but for those
who are in the market to buy today, it really cannot be recommended. You
should be shooting HD. The XL2 is not HD and it's two generations old. Even
its HD versions, the Canon XL H1 / H1A / H1S, have all been discontinued.
You can always find "new old stock" waiting on a retailer's shelf but honestly
you should be looking at models no older than 2010.

Absolutely!
not sure where the wedding video comes in, I thought this is just a general discussion, but anyways there is no reason to buy a standard definition camcorder today, even if some of your clients prefer to have SD delivery format you can always downconvert, but talking wedding video to my mind HD delivery is a must,
I'm pretty sure in 10-15 years from now 1920x1080 will be outdated too, but at least it won't be SD.