Apple FCP HD

Some interesting details that took many hours to elicite from Apple about how FCPHD handles DVCPROHD codec.
 
The firewire output is native DVCPROHD codec that is stored as such on the mac hard drive.
The firewire output can be the Varicam or any of the other DVCPROHD codecs. (hope this is true Apple!)
There is no loss between firewire output and what is recorded in the Mac.
There is no loss when a cuts only edit is performed. So it is possible to do a cuts only edit and firewire out a camera original quality master. (like how Sony xpri handles HDCAM via sdti)
When effects or mixes are perfomed the recording has to be uncompressed. (like Sony xpri)
Instead of uncompressing to 1280 x720 it uncompresses to the native DVCPROHD standard. In the case of Varicam it is 960 x 720. This saves storage space, reduces artifacts.
The Mac Motion software requires significant RAM to work.
The 1200 deck has options so check the price.
 
*Note that Avid also announced firewire connectivity to DVCPROHD at NAB.
*When asked about firewire connectivity to the iQ, Quantel stated that they didn't have it at the moment but said that if Avid can do it so could they.