Please forgive me for not really knowing whether this is going to be a good thing, or not, but on another forum, someone drew attention to this about-to-be-released device:

Recent Press Releases (http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/canopus/press/recent.php?id=43)

Supposedly "the new FIRECODER Blu PCIe card transcodes AVCHD files to/from MPEG-2 at 4-5 times faster than real-time"

Malcolm

And at only a mere, paltry, $8000.00, (peanuts).

Look at the article again: the base model most indie producers would buy is only $599.