I plan on buying the Canon XH-A1 in the fall. I currently use Vegas for editing purposes. How easy is it to edit HD rather than SD in Vegas? Do I need an HD monitor, or can I stick with my Dell 1702FP flat panel monitor?
I do nothing but HD editing now, and I own other NLE's as well. Though each NLE has their own pros and cons, I find Vegas to be the best all-round package that is offered. It's fast and it's efficient, but more importantly, in my opinion, Sony (madison) has recognized that hd editing is becoming the big thing and has shown that it wants to advance in this area... good things are going to happen in Vegas's future for HD.
And BTW... I use Samsung 931 monitors.... nothing special
While it is not necessary to run a special monitor - it is a pleasure to use a full-HD LCD for the secondary preview window in Vegas.
I use an older graphic card, an ATI X700 Pro, and a DVI/hdmi cable - to get a full-HD picture with 1:1 pixemapping in 1920x1080 on a Sony 40W2000. Gives you an ideal preview, and allows you to recognice even small errors in your video. It is simply great to edit with such a system and Vegas HDV material.
However, that is not a must - but an option. Smaller resolutions are fine, too.