My main cam has been a vx2100 for the past 2 years, in the summer of last year I wanted to buy a second cam and had the same worries as you, should I invest in hdv or not. because of hdv the prices of good dv cams started to drop I decided to buy a dvx100 and I haven't regret it so far.
It all depends for what you will be using it for, I"m in the wedding business and for this year f.i. I"m booked full and no client has asked for hdv. All of them had still plain, often 4:3 tv's.

Beginning next year however I will switch to one hdv cam for sure, probably will sell my vx2100 and keep the dvx100 as backup cam or for specific assignments. For next year I will be expecting more hd requests, blue ray or hd dvd will become cheaper for sure and more people will start to have a complete hd ready sets.

So for your question, if you use the camera professionally I would buy a XH A1 (Assuming you have no camera at all), if you use it just for hobby, go for the xl2. The xl2 however is still quite expensive (I think that it costs approx the same as the XH A1. But that will not last, canon will not be able to justify the high xl2 prices for a sd cam and maybe you will be better of waiting a bit longer if you want better deals. The dvx100 f.i. can allready be found several 100 euro's cheaper then last year.

You allready mentioned it and it's surely something to consider and that's the pc upgrade you need to do, that's money you will save when you get the xl2.

Several of my competitors got a hd cam about 1,5 -2 years ago (The fx1 which was very popular then) and still they had to take a sd cam with them for dark shoots because the fx1 was just not up to it. To the customer they had to deliver a downconverted sd footage so there was no advantage. Only advantage was if they sold their original minidv tape with the hd recordings so it could be transfered to blue ray in a few years.

My dream is a hvx200 with 2 large P2 cards, just like you I will have to make the right choice again next year and at the meantime I will probably still make somebody very happy with my vx2100.

I would suggest having a go on the XH if you havent already - I have always found the balance of the xl very awkward and I found the hi def version much worse in this respect, that lens is very heavy and holding the cam for any length of time on the shoulder was VERY tiring and uncomfortable, it felt like I was arm wrestling.

Maybe just a personal thing.

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I have two prejudices - I am anti HDV for consumer camcorders, and I eat mooks who claim to be pro wedding vidders and ask dumb questions.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Some time ago I had the opportunity to work half a day with the jvc GY-HD100 which is more or less build acc to the same principle and I found it tiring as well. Another problem was that it was difficult to get it balanced well, I could get much more steady shots with my vx2100 or with a real sholdercamera.

Also something to consider is the fact that the xl2 doensn't have a flipout lcd, the viewer is too small to watch from a distance and for tripod shots you have to get your eye onto the viewfinder all the time to see what you are doing.

Below link also gives more info on the pros/cons of the xl2
http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/shoot3/

Thanks Noa

Thanks Mark

I think it will be the XH A1. It does seem the sensible choice, on many counts. I had decided that this would be 'the one' as soon as it was launched last year. I had already written off the XL2 which up to that point had been 'the one'.

What re-ignited my XL2 flames was seeing one listed (PAL brand new) on eBay from a seemingly very reputable seller for under £2K inc. Amazing price - but it seems that many pro-sumer SD cameras are becoming very keenly priced at the moment, no doubt due to the HDV 'revolution'.

For me, the XL2 design is unrivalled in it's sheer sex-appeal. I'll always have a soft spot for it.

When I win the lottery, I'll buy them both...

We just finished a shoot for our best project to date, Hal Ketchum...(do a google if you've never heard the name...sold in excess of 4 million cds). We used a VX2100, XL1s a smaller well spec Sony for backstage...and our NEW....yeah!!!! Canon XH A1 (the first of 2 we're buying) as it was a mix of cams, we shot it all in SD, we didn't use the HD feature on the new Canon....have to say it knocked spots off everything else in terms of picture quality....goodness knows how good it will be when it comes to shooting in HD!

For what its worth, buy the XH...we hope to get our second one shortly

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www.whinbushmultimedia.co.uk named after the Whin bush, (Gorse) that grows where we live in Northern Ireland.