Just Curious...what do you guys feel about editing XDCAM footage on Final Cut Pro 6.0.5 as oppose to editing Native HDV 720p/1080i wrapped in QUICKTIME codec for Final Cut Pro.....

Assuming you have 2 identical turnkey systems, is it easier and less time consuming on the processor to cut and output

-720p HQ XDCAM footage (transferred via XDCam transfer)
OR
-720p HDV footage (native format recognized by Quicktime and FCP)

I know HDV 720p/1080i is not the same as 720p/1080p HQ in aspects of the bit-rate, but it is the same MPEG-2 compression right?

The EX HQ video is full 1920X1080, and the HDV video is 1440X1080, so there is a little bit of a hit in resolution. One big difference is if you are editing EX 24p video in Final Cut, you can actually edit native 24p. HDV 24 frames per second is actually 60i where the 24fps has 3:2 pulldown added inside the camera, so you are basically editing 60i video with HDV. I guess you can remove the pulldown from HDV video to get it to 24p, but that is an extra step.
After reading the initial post again I realize that you are talking about 720p. 720p 60fps will look very similar on both formats and Final Cut would probably treat them the same. The 24p difference would still apply. I've got a FX-1 that only shoots HDV 1080i, and I forgot that there are other cameras that do HDV 720p.