FCP offline edit system for Viper/SRW1 project

I'm about to shoot a feature film overseas on the Viper, recording to HDCAM-SR 10 bit 4:4:4 in SQ mode (440 Mbps).

The director wants to do the offline edit in FCP in standard def and is asking my advice on workflow. He hasn't purchased the computer or video card yet, so our options are pretty open at this point.

His plan is to ingest directly from the SRW1, using the standard def SDI output on the deck to generate a downconversion on the fly, connecting to the computer via the Blackmagic Decklink SD card.

I know that a lot of productions do a tape-to-tape downconversion first instead of doing it on the fly, but evidently we won't have access to any sort of professional SD-format deck to make actual downconverted tapes. He wants to generate dailies by making DVDs from the FCP clips.

My concerns are:

-What happens to the timecode when using the downconverted signal from the SD-SDI output of the SRW-1? (since the video is changing time bases)

-What operations are necessary in FCP/Cinema Tools to accurately remove the pulldown inserted by the SRW-1? (is it a 3:2 pattern, like a telecine?)

-After pulldown removal in FCP, will the timecode on the new 23.98fps clips match the timecode on the original 23.98fps HDCAM-SR material, so that the exported EDL will be correct in the conform?

I know from my limited post experience that this is potential minefield territory. It would seem to be much simpler to edit in compressed HD using the HD-SDI output from the SRW-1 and an HD video card (at least then there wouldn't be pulldown/timecode issues), but we don't really need HD resolution since it's an offline, and the director wants to save money.

Thanks for your help,

Derth Adams