Is there anything realtime about HDV? If I capture HDV material into a Mac dual 2.7 G5 can I begin editing when capture is completed? Or must I wait for a conversion or conforming process to happen.

I've read about FCP5's native HDV editing, but I've also read alot about a conversion process? Does the conversion process refer to an earlier release of FCP or is it still relevant to version 5 of the software?

yes you can edit immediately, there is no transcoding. You do have to render when you go back to tape though.