Canon HF11 -- best settings??

I'm new the this forum and just bought a Canon HF11. I've done preliminary tests with it today and am disappointed with the results. I'm assuming I must not have the Settings set correctly.

Can anyone coach me on what settings yield the absolute best results, assuming good lighting conditions.

Second, can anyone tell me the best settings when in lower light situations. I'm filming my daughters ballet tonight (which is part of why I bought the camera) and I have heard that the 24fps setting is actually not as good in low lighting, but i'm not quite sure what I'm doing yet. Thanks!

I have been monkeying around a bit today. I found that I had it in the i60 (or 60i?) setting. I am new to the camcorder HD stuff. Once I found this setting, I set it to 24fps, which I understand is the best. Though I haven't shot a lot yet at 24, it looks MUCH better than my 60i results, so I'm on my way to being satisfied.

Also, though I'm assuming it's yet another setting, when I'm panning around with the camera and then watching it in playback on my computer, the panning is fairly edgy and not that smooth.

As I was buying it, I read something where I thought someone said that in low light, the camera actually does better at 30fps? Ever heard of this.

Related to the whole 24fps piece, part of what was confusing me until I found the 60i / 30fps/24fps screen is the setting screen for 24mpx, 17mpx, etc. I was setting it at 24mpx, the top one, and since it said 24, I was assuming it was the setting for the frame per second, but later figured out it was not. Do you know what the MPX / FPX / XP+ settings are for, and whether there's any ideal setting for indoors with relatively low light (ballet tonight)? Thanks.

For what it's worth, I just finished some more experimenting. It seems that the 24F setting is the best in all the situations I've tried. Main thing I've been looking at right now is low, incandescent light, and which settings have less grain. I found that the EASY setting seemed to have the best colors, but had more grain. I then found, am planning to use tonight, that when I left it on 24F, with the P setting (auto) and AWB auto whitebalance, BUT lowered to XP+ (12mbps) setting, it seems slightly better and less grainy than the MPX (24mbps) setting. I don't really understand what this setting is. I had expected that the only setting I'd have and manage would be the Frame rate. Still learning, including the terminology, etc.

Thanks for the input. I have some research to do in order to come up to speed on the terms. At this stage, I'm really not sure of the distinction between, for example, what the MBPS (24, 17, 12) term and setting is vs the F (24, 30, 60i) really is. I have a general idea, but I don't yet really get it.

On the still side, I'm an avid photographer. D300. 400mm 2.8 lens. Fully understand the relationship if ISO, Shutter and Aperture. Use manual Kelvin White Balance settings, etc.

But until I understand exactly what the variables on this digital camera are about, I'm experimenting a bit blindly.

As an aside, I have the MacPro and 30" HD Monitor, so thus far, that's what I've been viewing on. I'm assuming it is giving me a very good representation of my results. I haven't viewed the footage yet, but last night I ended up using the Auto (P) setting, along with the XP+ 12MBPS setting.

Given my comments above, is there a simple tutorial or resource somewhere that gives me a lesson in the various settings and their role re: the HD camcorder context?
thanks,

And, by the way, I had the camera on 24F the whole time. OSV --- in your comment re: "24p would be the last thing you would use", are you referring to 24mbps? Or are you refering to the 24F frame rate? Re: the mbps setting, is the rule of thumb that the higher mbps setting makes the picture jerkier, as you commented? Thanks.