avchd, FinalCut vs Voltaic
 

If that can interest someone, i have compared the conversion of some avchd files, directly from the camcorder to finalcut pro 7 and transfer to to computer, then conversion using Voltaic hd

i used the same codec prores HQ and noticed the files don't have the same size, on a file around 180 Mo, i had almost 10 Mo less in Voltaic. I used an histogram to compare the 2 files and noticed the loss of quality with Voltaic, it miss some color info, i could even see some differences by eye, the Voltaic one was a bit more noisy (i mean compression artifacts)

so if you have finalcut pro 7, i suggest you not to use Voltaic. As the quality will be better and it is very easy to previw your clip and set an in and out point in FC to capture directy what you want.
use capture and import.

cheers

More comparisons
 

Good Information,
What about comparing Final cut Express and Imovie to Final cut pro and Voltaic? I just learned that FCP uses a better codec than FCE and the results are suppose to be better when pulling in the AVCHD via FCP.
I am not in a position to buy FCP but I do have Imovie, FCE and Voltaic and would welcome everyones input. The stabilization of Imovie is really neat but I wonder if you loose quality to import to Imovie.

Thanks