Hi Bob,
Yes, I tried the component out on my Z1, and,,, I think the video looks a liitle soft, and there was quite a bit of color shift. I also looked at the sony deck HVR-10MU, and it looks like it has same component cables as the Z1. I am not sure where the bottle neck in the system is. I like the idea of converting from firewire to Convergent Design HD-SDI, thereby keeping it all digital. But, like you said..$$$
Lou