I've been having issues with my firewire port for a while now. The warranty covers it, but it's been spending too much time at the Canon service shop. I've started to consider purchasing a Pinnacle MovieBoard Plus device for my capturing needs since I wouldn't need to completely rely on my XH-A1's firewire port.

Anyways, is this piece of editting hardware really worth it? There are no component cable inputs, so my HD footage won't be as good as its supposed to be, right?

Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Regards,
Farid

Would buying a Canon HV-20 camcorder to use as a playback/capture unit prove to be a better solution to saving wear on the XH-A1 firewire port?

As you note, looks like MovieBoard Plus only supports composite and s-video analog input (not component), which might not be adequate for true HD.

Within the Avid/Pinnacle line, Avid Liquid Pro might be the product you need for HD Component I/O.