Hello,

I know there can't be too many of you still using the XL2, but it always takes a while for me to get things done ....

Recently I completed my first video, made with a PAL Canon XL2 16:9

The files were edited in Vegas Pro 19 using the following settings:
Template Custom 720 W x 576 H 25,000 fps(PAL)
Field Order None Progressive Scan
Pixel Aspect Ratio 1,4568 PAL DV WideScreen

This was primarily a music video, and the stereo audio files originally mastered at 2496 PCM were converted to 2448 PCM

The resultant AVI render :
HD 1080-25P YUV 2448 720_576

I used HandBrake to convert to MP4 for youtube and my website
Here are the HandBrake settings to achieve a correctly proportioned image
Storage Size 720x576 / Display Size 720x576 / Aspect Ratio 3.75:3
Orientation and Cropping
Flip_False / Rotation 0 / Cropping Automatic
Top_Left_Right_Bottom / All 0
Final Dimensions
Storage Size 720x406 / Display Size 720 / Automatic False
Aspect Ratio: 15.96:9
Resolution and Scaling
Resolution Limit / Custom
Maximum Size / 720x406
Anamorphic / Custom
Pixel Aspect / 1:1
Scaled Size / 720x406
Optimal Size / False
Allow Upscaling / False
Borders
Fill / None
Top 0 / Left 0 / Right 0 / Bottom 0
Colour / Black

If you want to see what this looks like, here is a link to the youtube video (stillness) ....
https://youtu.be/_zw5GTPWVNc
Some of the imperfections in the video are not due to the transcode but to the original file.
This was the only film I had of the rabbit, and it was taken when I first tested the camera.
I live in New Zealand, and the camera had come from Christchurch, soon after an earthquake.
Although I had cleaned the tape heads, there still remained some dust, (which I later removed with another clean).

The reason I have written this little note, is because it took me quite a while to find the right settings for MP4 and youtube without squeezing the image.
There is a more detailed entry on the handbrake (devices and presets) forum, which includes a copy of the handbrake log.