Hi, I'm a begginner to this world and would appreciate any advice anyone could give to me. I do a lot of 35mm wildlife photography, landscape photography etc and would like to suppliment that with DV.

Before I go out and spend a lot of money should I go for the GL2 or XM2? My primary outlet media for films would be DVD and I'm busy putting a killer computer together to handle just about any editing software out there in combination with the Sony DRU-500A DVD burner (haven't yet decided on editing software).

I've tried to search this and other sites but am not yet sure exactly what to do. The XM2 gives higher resolution and there is DV Film Atlantis to convert PAL to NTSC which is supposed to be good. However I live in the USA (at present) and GL2 is cheaper and more available.

I will also be working South Africa (PAL) and USA (NTSC) so I would like to be able to switch formats.

Your advice would be greatly appreciated (and any advice on the best capture card/editing software under $1000-00).

Thank you
Clive Culverwell

In my opinion, if you live and work principally in NTSC-land you should go with the GL2. The "resolution difference" is more a matter a engineering statistic than practical difference. The incredible inconvenience and expense of working in PAL from, say, California may quickly drain whatever enjoyment you derive from your work.

I second that. Don't buy the PAL version for this. It'll be a lot of headaches along with the extra costs.

Go with the format where the bulk of your work is produced for. Don't add to your expenses starting out. Overall, I've been unimpressed by software conversion of NTSC to PAL. PAL to NTSC software conversions look marginally better.

Jeff