here's a question that i'm sure will seem silly. it involves the vcr player built into the xl1s. basically, what i'm trying to find out is:

1 - does usage of the vcr player (play, record, etc) affect the overall functionality of the camcorder? will excessive vcr usage hurt the xl1s?

2 - is there a difference in recording quality of the vcr in an xl1s compared to that of a much lower end camcorder?

i ask because, i tend to dump a lot of finished edits back onto dv tape. and since i don't have a dv deck, i use my xl1s to record. i also use my xl1s to play footage when i log and capture. and i was wondering if it's a good investment to spend a few hundred dollars on a low-end dv camcorder, solely for the purpose of playback and recording. thanks!

1. Like any mechanical device, it will wear with usage. The same transport is used for playing tape as well as recording it.

2. No. Since footage is coming into the camera via Firewire, rather than through the lens and imaging system, there's not advantage or disadvantage between models, per se. The only issue that comes to mind would be potential minute differences in transport speed between cameras. But I would think that you'd see such a problem pretty quickly in the form of image break-up.

To add to Ken's note, head wear is the same whether recording or playback. Using the XL1 for a player adds head wear. If you playback a lot (many hours per week), it may be worth using a lower cost player to save wear on the more costly XL1.

There have been many suggestions to get a cheap miniDV cam to perform this VCR function. The are a few caveats to this:

1 - Its not a production deck. A real production deck is built beefier and has other profe$$ional features.

2 - Some miniDV cams do not support 4-track audio. If you do not use Canon 4-track, then this should not be a issue. Optionally, when you output your production, you can still use the cheaper miniDV cam.

Hope this helps,