Thanks Jeff,

Am I correct in assuming that FireWire and composite/component technologies are used for the same purpose: To transfer Video signals/data from one device to another.

But composite rendering the highest quality? Used mostly in the Broadcast Media?

Firewire rendering cost efficiency to popular use without much generation loss?

FireWire is just a pipe for moving data from one location to another, just like SDI (serial digital interface). Whereas, composite and component are specific video standards. FireWire is digital only and composite and component can be both analog or digital.

Keep in mind that even if you have a board that will capture
uncompressed you are not certain what signal the XL1S
outputs and wether or not it already has been through a
compression/decompression cycle!

That said, there are at least two options available to directly
record to a harddisk with a DV camera. Search this forum
on the words Firestore and see this thread

I'm pretty sure the XL1s output's standard 4:1:1 5:1 DV video, the same that goes to tape.

However, I saw comparison screen shots on scott billups sites that have some small differences between the images from tape and those recorded direct from camera, so i'm not sure if this is a mistake or what.

The data on the firewire port HAS to be DV standard (compressed)compliant, otherwise you couldn't capture it with a DV program.

The data over the firewire bus is indeed always compressed DV.
I was talking about the analog output ports to capture perhaps
uncompressed

Ah i see..yeah that is true. A test could be done with an image that generates a lot of DV compression artifacts, and look for artifacts on the analog output, as compared to the DV output.

At that point you'd just be trading artifacts assuming there was a difference; Analog/composite artifacts for DV ones.