Displaying HD video through down conversion hardware on SD monitor

Question

Hey all,
I have been searching hard for solutions to this problem. I dont have the money yet to purchase a high end sdi hd card for my mac nor do I have the money for a sdi field monitor. I have been looking far and hard for a PCIe card that converts the timeline display in FCP (like when you watch the timeline on the lcd ofyour camera) to a SD monitor. The issue is that I will be working with dvcprohd, 720p60 with the pulldown removed (720 23.98p) and many people are sceptable.
True I could just use my camera to connect the monitor (frankly I am not to far off from going with this, just cause it will be another $600 for the blackmagic) but I am trying to stick with the "camera is for filming, computer is for editing" not using the camera in any way with the tapless system.
I could go with blackmagics decklink pro, but I would be forced to use my firestore fs-100 in non-pulldown removal mode, cutting down the amount of footage I can store by nearly 4 times (4 hours to 90min or so, they have a firmware upgrade that will remove the pulldown as filming to conserve space).
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=411259 &is=REG&addedTroughType=search
But with their card I am forced to use the highbandwidth 720p60.
So my choices are either that card and take the hit or, see if they make some sort of Firewire to s-video/composite converter that down converts the hd video to sd, like the blackmagic.
I am sure this is going to be a big market in the next couple years since alot of people will want to keep their sd monitors until it is completely needed to buy new ones, and a $500 card opposed to a $1500 monitor is not a bad option. Basically, I dont have $1800 to spend on a hd monitor and blackmagic hd extreme and I am trying to save all my cash for the hvx200 and fs-100 hard drive, almost $7000 alone for that!
Any insite is gladly appreciated!
Tim

Answer 1

Yep, someone mentioned the matrox to me on dvxusers too but for $1000, that is a price hike for me. The black magic has the same specs for under $600, just no dvi.
But now this begs the question, everything I look at states that it only can handle 720 60p, matrox, the blackmagic, they all say they can only display or down convert from a 720 60p. Now this is where it gets tricky, if I film at 720 60p with the varicam system, and then remove the pulldown while capturing, and even though the footage is now at 23.98, does that mean that the sequence preset which is set to 720 24p in my settings, is that actually a 720 60p based timeline and the codec that is displayed onto the monitor is 720 60p, not 23.98?
The reason I question this is that I found some 23.98 720 dvcprohd footage, put it into FCP and edited on a 720 23.98p (preset is called 72024p). When I exported it as quicktime video (raw) it stated in the get info window that the codec was dvcprohd 72060p, integer, little endian. So it seems like the base of final cut is using the dvcprohd 60p system. I am not sure if I am editing in 60p or 23.98p, regardless that it says 23.98 in the item properties window for the sequence, not the raw footage.
It seems like everything I read is 720 60p, but everyone is editing in 23.98 because that is the the preset option in FCP. It seems like the designers must know something that they wont specifically say.
I think if I were to buy the blackmagic, it may work out, I am just trying to confirm working ability before buying.
Curious, if I got the matrox and a small lcd screen to work with it, would I get the same accurate quality color correction ability as a normal field monitor? Or would I have to calibrate the lcd monitor somehow?
Thank you so much for your help everyone!