I'd be interested in other people's experiences editing XDCAM (PDW350) with FCP Studio on a new quad core Mac with 4 Gb of ram, most likely via a PDW-F70. Is there any advantage of Black Magic Deck Link over AJA Kona for working with XDCAM, especially when it comes to mixing uprezed material acquired in HDV, real time monitoring (Sony LMD-2030 monitor), down rezing to DVCam and hardware acceleration. We are also considering getting a PDW-U1.
thanks

You're going to have to wait a little bit longer for FCP 6 feedback as it hasn't been released yet! likewise for the PDW-U1.

FCP6 should be out sometime in the next few weeks ... the U1 is apparently not due for some months.

I'm using the SD version of the U1 (can't recall the model number), and it's slick. Just like the deck in FAM mode, only no option for AV/C mode.

I also have FCP5 running on a Quad Core with 8GB of RAM, and it's slick. Can't wait for Studio2 for those multi-format timelines, and especially 3D Motion.

If you buy the U1 you won't need a Kona OR a Blackmagic. It all comes in firewire. I use a Kona3 for output and uprezing. I love it.

Mike,

that would be the D1 ... an it does have AV/C mode
it can be switched in software using the "FAM Driver Tool" application, which is in the /Applications/Utilites folder

cheers
Andy

I am using FCP on an Intel Quad with 3Gb of ram and Decklink HD extreme. It works very well with realtime monitoring of XDCAM on either a component or SDi monitor. Editing XDCAM material in and XDCAM project is as smooth and slick as DV material although renders do take a little longer. Currently mixing XDCAM HD with other formats is not real time but FCS 6 should resolve that. I also run FCP on my Macbook (not Pro) and that works well also. I do mix a lot of HDV in some of my projects and I do find the way FCP wraps the HDV files in a quicktime wrapper a pain as it makes sharing files between FCP and either Avid or a PC difficult. I have pre ordered my copy of FCS 6, it should be a killer editing app.