Chris,
Everything I do is SD and NTSC. I acquire in either DV, DVCpro, or Media100 SD. Rendering in motion jpeg. Oddly, FCP will output NTSC via the Canopus using the laptop FW 400 and 800 ports without having the CPU freeze or stutter. However when I connect the G-raid via the express 34 card (FW 800) and run FCP, it does freeze. I can never get M100 producer to output NTSC via the Canopus in any configuration without the CPU being unable to keep up.
Thanks for you interest.
Bruce Burke