Final Cut settings
 

Forgive me if this has been covered and post a link please. I just got my FX1 today. I charged the battery then shot around the house just to see if all is working. I'm happy to report that after shooting I plugged via firewire into my G5 dual 2.7 and captured my test shots. All seems fine but when I drag my clips to the timeline everyone needs to be rendered which took minutes for a 20 sec clip. I've checked all my sequence settings and basically set all to 1080 60i. Perhaps the render time is normal (ouch). If not can someone share their settings. My other camera is a VX2100. Certainly no rendering issues there.
Thank you, Chris..

No rendering should be required - I'm on a dual 2.5 G5 and there aren't any problems. I assume you're on FCP 5?

Here's what I'd suggest. Close all open projects. Now go to Final Cut Pro > Easy Setup and choose the 1080i60 preset (or 1080i50 if in PAL land :-)

Now goto File > New Project. This will ensure that all the settings are correct in your clips, sequences and captures. Try capturing a couple clips again as a test. If you changed setups inside an existing project then you might have missed something along the line. Also remember that when you switch Easy Setups in an existing project it only affects what you do in the future and doesn't change any existing settings.

See if this works for you...

Final Cut Settings
 

Thank you Boyd, I believe I fell pray to something I already knew. Sequence settings changes don't take place till next launch. I took your suggestion and set everything then started a new project. Captured some video then placed the clips in the timeline. No rendering needed. To be confident I'm set to HDTV 1080i. For pixel aspect 3x2 looks right not HD1440x1080 is this right ? and field dominence upper ? finally Quicktime settings, HDV 1080i60 I'm a little confused about pixel aspect. What do you use ?
Thanks again, Chris..

Really all you need to do is choose the HDV 1080i60 Easy Setup. If you aren't seeing that in the menu then check the "show all" box. That setup will configure everything correctly (capture, clips, sequences, audio, video, device control) for your FX1. When you choose it you'll see a list of what it sets in the dialog box. Yes, HDV 1080i is 1440x1080 - it's anamorphic like regular widescreen DV and is stretched to 1920x1080 on playback.