I have HDV1080i video shot with my Z1 on a miniDV tape in the camera ready to play.

1] I set the camera to VCR.

2] in the IN/OUT REC menu VCR HDV/DV is set to AUTO

3] i.LINK Conv is set to "ON"

The blue light for i.LINK output is illuminating HDV??? NOT DV as would be expected if the camera is set to DOWNCONVERT.

Does this i.LINK CONV setting do ANYTHING? What am I missing?

The LED indicators above the iLink plug do not indicate the format of the firewire output but rather the format of the footage curently playing. Plug in your camera to your computer with iLink Converter enabled, and you'll see it be recognized as a standard DV camcorder regardless of the indication of the LEDs.

Got it to work. Thanks.

The blue light did illuminate DV during the downcovert.