Quick question about CS4 and HDV

I'm starting a project that will require me to edit footage from a Canon XL-H1s but I have people telling me not to use Premiere CS4 as it "recompresses ALL footage at HDV export, and it doesn't do
it very well (serious image degradation is common in the final result). It also cannot reexport the same file without recompressing it, so laterexports must either begin with retained project and source files, or suffer further degradation." If this is true, is there any sort of work around or am I going to be forced to purchase a second editing software package?