Glad to hear it. Funny how that happens. One cable or switch and they don't let you in the menu. Useful trick to remember. This is true in the camera section as well. Some menus are greyed out in some modes.
So you are getting identical timecode ie Clone? Or are you just getting a dub. My reading of the Sony DSR-1500A manuals seemed to imply no cloning from DV. Ie timecode is not identical. Of course Sony never implemented timecode in DV (like Panasonic and Canon) reserving timecode for DVCAM.

I had three timecode breaks on the tape, they all went down flawlessly. I set the TC to Ext. Regen.

Funny thing though, the dub came down as 4x3, even though I shot at 16x9. I have to get that worked out, or find another workflow. Can't have any 4x3 nonsense on my project. Is that just a preset of the XLH1 downconvert, or is there a toggle for 16x9 DV downconvert output?

What do you mean by 4:3? Cropped or the Squeezed image? Squeezed is how SD handles 16:9 footage.

Unfortunately there is neither. The XL H1 will not "letterbox" the 16:9 video downconversion to SD over FireWire. It assumes that you want the full vertical resolution, so you're seeing a spaghetti western (squeezed) unless you're going to a widescreen display. Will the Sony deck add the letterbox for you?

Just curious... but would a firestore be able to capture HD in 24f? And what bitrate would it be?

Squeezed it is.
 

Your right, I checked against the image and it is squeezed. Is there a way anyone has found to beat this problem? I could fix it after cutting with some rezie effects, but I'd rather not have to go that route if I can help it.

Try your sequence settings and check the anamorphic box.