Can't seem to find the answer after two days of searching so here goes:

I have several hours of 24p footage from an HG10 that needs to be edited into a 720, 30p timeline. I have not upgraded to FCS2 yet because I have too many ongoing projects and don't want to risk it.
So my question is, to convert the AVCHD footage, can I just go out and purchase ILife 08, convert it through Imovie, then bring the converted clips into FCP?
When IMovie 08 converts the footage, does it create AIC clips independant of Imovie, or can you only access the clips through IMovie?

Thanks.