HDV Video Quality Question

[bSkiem19]

Hi, I just got a canon XH-A1 HDV Camcorder and have filmed a few things with it. I also have a older canon GL2. Anyways, I've noticed that the HDV video dosn't look any better than the GL2's SD video. I'm not new to any of this stuff but is there anything i need to do different or change on importing/editing/exporting/camera. I only have a 17 inch apple monitor from a couple years a ago so I'm wondering if thats some of it(how i'm viewing it). The video is clearer than SD, but it just looks like SD thats been compressed to look like hd. All the HDV footage i've seen has looked like the hi-def content on tv. I'm working with Final Cut 4.5 and all the other pro apps. I've ordered Final Cut Studio 2, so hopefully working with fcp 6 should fix some of it since its HDV native. So I'm open to any suggestions.