the consensus is amicable.
 

1. please ask about 24F vs. 24p.

2. interchangeable lense

What would happen if I decide to use the new 20x HD lens with my old Canon XL1?

Backward compatibility: What about batteries, mics, etc?

Yes, same battery, same mic will work. You can also put the new 20X on the older cameras but it will not give the distance readout in the vf nor will you be able to do the back focus adjustment. I was wondering myself whether or not the HD lens on my XL2 would improve the image even more.

-gb-

Can you shoot SD 4:3 and SD 16:9 with this camera

1) Is the $9000.00 set in stone?
2) How about someone who will get into the trenches with the troops on this new camera and the XL2 the way Jan does with the DVX and soon the HVX crowd.

1) Any Auto focus on this baby or all manual like the JVC? Yeah I know, I should not even think of buying this if the novice in me plans to use autofocus.

2) Are you able to downconvert from footage shot in HD to SD resolution like on the Sony?

Thanks

Yes, here's a shot of the AF/MF settings in the menu
http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=351&c=28

and another shot of the AF/MF and focus preset switches on the HD lens
http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=358&c=28

My network card flaked out last night -- limited access now -- more later! Keep those questions coming,

also, (related to the lens question), if/when is there a body only option? (might help the sticker shock to stage in this purchase)....

1. Can we now switch only one audio channel to front mic and the other to input or are we still limited by both audio channels mapped to either front or mic input?

2. is the SDI 8 bit, 10 bit or 12 bit?

3. If some or all of the frames are flagged as progressive will that help the mpeg2 encoder to actually encode as a progressive video?

4. Since it uses the HDV2 1080i format would the SONY HDV deck work with footage from the XLH1 or will there be issues because of the expanded HDV specs?

5. Is the viewfinder/LCD display the same as the XL2 or it higher resolution?

I know these are questions for the product rep, but on another "livestock oriented" forum there was a link stating that the SDI was 10bit. I don't know how true it is, but that's the info I found...

According to this pictures: http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=367&c=28

You can shoot in SD mode in 4:3 and 16:9.

In my opinion this question, along with the lux rating, will make or break the camera.


John

SDI bits
 

30*1920*1080*12*2 = 1.49299e+09 so it's not 12.
30*1920*1080*10*2 = 1.24416e+09 and 30*1920*1080*8*2 =9.95328e+08 so it could be 8 or 10 depending on how much the audio takes and how much overhead (framing, synch, EDAC etc.) is in the stream.

1. From the Canon people on the floor there will be a special HDV version of the Firestore.

2. XL H1 viewfinder/LCD display differs from the XL2
- Color LCD: 2.4" vs 2.0"
- Pixels: 215,000 pixels vs 200,000

3. I asked some of the more technical questions listed, but I'm still waiting on solid answers.