I have read many different post and from what I have read there is not a deck/VTR that will play back the 24f format. Well, I decided to investigate for myself. After many phone calls to Canon and an email the information I have received contradicts itself.

I called Canon and asked them:

Me: "Is there a deck or VTR that is currently on the market or in the planning stage that will play 24f?"

Canon: "No, Sir."

Me: "Are you sure? Do you know if Canon is going to release one in the future?"

Canon: "No sir. I don't have that information."

Now my e-mail:

Me: "I am interest in the XL-H1. The only thing keeping me
from purchasing the camera is there is no deck/VTR that
will play the 24f format. I was wondering if there are plans
to produce such a deck or if I have missed something and
there is a deck. Thank you."

Canon: "Thank you for your inquiry. We value you as a Canon customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

Canon does not currently manufacture a 24f DV cassette deck. You should
be able to you any 24p DV cassette deck, however, I would not know
specifically of any company that would make one."

Besides the typo in Canon's e-mail, I am soo confused. Has anyone done test with all the HDV decks, etc. to see who is right.? Please Help!!

The following thread might be of interest: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=56129&page=2

I have read that thread but I called B&H the other day and they said the JVC BR-HD50U HDV deck would play 24f.

That sounds to me like standard Customer Service-ese for "can't help ya but thanks for asking." The short answer is that at present I' not aware of a deck that will play 24F from the XL H1 except the XL H1 itself. Hopefully that will change in the not too distant future, but to my knowledge no product announcements have been made.

EDIT: I don't know about the JVC deck, but I'd be cautious and check that out, since JVC's camera does 720p, which is a different flavor of HDV than the HDV2 that Canon uses.

Thank you, well I hope they release one before summer. I'm taking the H1 out west for 2 months. So I'm estimating about 180-200 hours of footage.

I have read that thread but I called B&H the other day and they said the JVC BR-HD50U HDV deck would play 24f.
The JVC brochure and manual specifically say that it won't play 1080 of any type.