The DVX100 was considerably noisier than the A1. The A1's noise levels seem comperable to most cameras in this price range. The only camera that seems quieter is the Z1/FX1, but that - to my eye - has the coring turned up quite high which reduces noise at the cost of detail levels.

I've found that boosting levels generally reveals noise - which mostly lives in the darker portions of an image. Generally I shoot low contrast (low knee, black stretch) and then bring the black levels down in post. It pulls the lower end of the image down, and the noise disappears!

Ah yes. But even then you spend ages fiddling around trying to fix problems!

Timelapse (non-HDV)
 

FWIW: http://scenalyzer.com/ does a nice job with timelapse.
What's nice about doing it in post is there is really no wrong camera setting if it's stable. If you don't like the sample rate, just dial it up/down in scenalyzer and go get another cup of coffee. You don't have to wait for that light to be just right or freeze your bum off that a re-shoot would likely require.

PS I keep spamming them to see about a version that supports HDV. It has many more features that I miss a lot. It really sped up my DV workflow.