Some of you might have already caught this video, since i'm late to post it on this blog. There's still questions about 1080 monitoring on an external LCD monitor and 480SD monitoring while in record mode. This is the same for the other Canon DSLR's. They show 1080 if just monitoring and when playing back a video clip, but will drop to 480SD while in record mode. Some people don't notice this on tiny LCD's, because the camera will maintain the same aspect ratio. Here's a look on my HDTV that i'm using as an external monitor in the studio.

I love the larger screen when shooting stuff, and it's only $169 at Costco. I have DIY monitor mount that i've made to a simple flash light stand. The only problem is you won't be traveling with this type of monitor, and you'll need a good power source handy too. For stationary shots in the studio where I don't need to travel, it gets the job done and I can focus well with it. This LCD I have is not 1080, but who needs it for monitoring since it can't maintain it anyways during recording. If you're happy with those Lilliput monitors, those LCD's don't display 1080 - I think the Lilliput is 800x400 resolution. This is a 720p LCD which I think makes the image better since it doesn't need to scale from 1080 to 480.