David, maybe you could answer this. In regards to Prospect ingest via HD-SDI on the PC side, from a live component feed via an AJA converter box, would the signal be clean enough/of high enough quality for VFX and keying?

I have an HC1 with component out. There's a good chance I will have to record live feeds via such cameras. Also, I may run into issues with having to intercut the two sources and heavy CC may be involved. (There's places I can mount and HC1, and go with an HC1 that I can't do with the larger canons). Have you test media captured in this fashion, and if so, how were the results compared to full HD-SDI? Favorable or noteably soft/degraded?

Thanks.

I have an HDR-HC1 too. My understanding is that the component out is only active when playing back (compressed) HDV footage. Be sure to check this before hanging you hat on it.

I think it's live. I don't have it here with me, however I remember hooking it directly to my HDTV and seeing the live image. Anyway, my question also applies to the A1 and any component out/non HD-SDI camera for that matter.

HDSDI will be cleaner than analog. But also a Canon HDV camera will be cleaner than an HC1. I can't imagine using an HC1 for effects work (and I personally own one of those cameras.)

I would not use the HC1 for effects, however I may have to intercut with an A1. I can think of a few events where I usually hoist a small miniDV cam to gain a birdeyes view of things and perspective of large events, etc. In HDV, it makes sense to use an HC1.