In America, do I have to process PAL imagery through a computer first or is there any HDTV and or computer monitor I can plug the FX1 directly into?

I think most broadcast monitors will support viewing of PAL signals,
but from what I understand there aren't a lot (if any???) displays
to view a PAL signal on overthere.

However, you can ALWAYS view this stuff on your computer!

Yes, your computer can do a PAL to NTSC conversion, the question
is how good does it need to look.....

Usually if you set your NLE's project to PAL, load the footage and
export to an NTSC template it does the conversion for you auto-
matically. This would be fine for monitoring some footage, however
it probably won't be good enough to show clients etc. But a few
tests should easily show you how it looks like.

Keep in mind that PAL video is 25 fps, so it may be a good idea
to start a 24p NTSC timeline, intepret the 25p footage as 24p and
stretch the audio by 4%.

Great advice:)