If I tape something using my FX-7 @ 1080i, and want to put it on DVD, can i just dump the footage onto a hard drive and edit it using basic NLE software (ULead video editor)?

Yes. I use Pinnacle 10.7 and have downloaded HD footage from an FX7 and produced a standard DVD. While not looking as nice as the original HD picture, it is definately better than any DVD I have burned from footage from my Sony digital camcorder.
It takes a longer time to render and go through the process of producing a DVD.

Mike

Most of the Basic movie editing like Ulead, Pinnacle, canopus and iMovie already build in HDV editing. So with your FX7 should not be a problem. Just need more time to encoding and file size are much larger