Z7U 1080p to 1080i conversion

I have several tapes that were shot on the SONY Z7U with the record type accidentally set to progressive instead of interlace and my AVID post workflow is only set up for handling 1080i. (Basically I have 1080/24 native p and I need 1080/24 over 60i for my post process to work.)

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can easily and cheaply convert my shot tapes to 1080i? A post house has quoted me $750 per tape to convert, which is out of the question budget wise. I am considering attaching the camera to my HVR-1500 deck via iLINK and attempting to re-record the tapes hoping the deck will automatically convert, but I have no idea if this will work. (FYI- the HVR-1500 does not handle tapes shot in the native progressive mode on the Z7U.) Or perhaps connecting two Z7Us via iLINK and converting that way? Or maybe loading all the footage into FCP 6 and adding the necessary 2:3 pulldown that way?

It should be noted that I'm not worried about retaining original time code as my newly converted tapes can replace my camera masters, but ANY audio of video degredation/artifacting is unacceptable. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance...

Jay