Well, any camcorder will display on a TV. I'm not sure about HDTV because I have no experience with them.

Does he want the smallest size possible? Then get the JVC (I forget the model). I was looking at it and it would be the camcorder I'd get, but I was just looking for size. There may be some features he wants that aren't on it.

The Sony units that sit on the Cnet top 5 are nice, too.

Now that I see which one the XL1 is, I'm guessing he doesn't want small! That's a monster, but looks nice. I can't speak to that range at all (I was just looking at compact styles). Sorry.