Hi to all, I am a newby to the camcorder world. I am sorry if my questions are basic or even baseless. I have had my A1U for about a week. I have taken some preliminary shots of my kids inside and out. I wanted to get a look at what the A1 can do. I have a Mitsubishi 52825 HD TV that has a 4 pin fire wire conection. The TV does recognize the A1 by name but it will not show the video. It plays but is all distorted to the point that it is not viewable at all. I was thinking it was because the TV is 720p and the camcorder is 1080i. The TV converts every signal to 720p. I thought because of the 1394 conection, it would only display what was sent, 1080i, which is not compatable with the TV. However I did take the A1 to a store and tried it on 1080i, 720p and 1080p tvs with no success. It will display with component conections on all. (with fantastic results) I then suspected it is some camera setting. I did shoot in HDV1080i mode (REC FORMAT "HDV1080i") During playback the i.LINK CONV was "off" and the VCR HDV/DV was set to "AUTO", I also tried the setting "HDV" with no difference. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? Or what I can do that is right to be able to use the i.LINK?

I am not sure but HDV over ilink/firewire seem to be different than the DV that normally travels there. If you use the ilink convert to DV option in the menu and you get picture, then it's the screens that don't accept HDV over firewire.

hi..i've been having problems getting a picture although sound was recognized ..in pinnacle liquid..i need to experiment more.. if i find a solution i'll post it..sad though and very frustrating

What kind of computer do you have? You can also try the CineForm codecs and capturing at http://www.cineform.com/ Either connecthd or aspecthd. I am not sure they will work with Liquid though. But the trial can at least let you capture and see if that works.

Barry, Fredrik
I also had no problems with the sound on any of the HD TVs I played it on, using the i.LINK. Only video issues.
Also I would think that the camera should play directly on any capable TV or computer monitor. (it does with component connections) Software would be a different set of circumstances with a set of its own problems and solutions. I would suspect that as HD becomes more prevelent that the software used for editing in a computer would become more HD user friendly

Thanks for those who took the time to read and answer my question. I was concerned that there might be something wrong with the camera so I called Sony. The answer is that few if any TVs or Monitors support "HDV" at this time. They say it is a realitivly new format and the i.LINK will not work until more hardware supports it. So for the time being it will have to be component connections for my TV and i.LINK for my computer.
P.S. I also found a good place for tech. answers from Sony
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/info/sonyphonecontacts.shtml