No, it isn't equivalent. Firewire is a pure data transfer, no loss of quality at all. And the only way you can connect to this deck is with a capture card. Not sure how you would interface with the QSDI, or if you'd want to. Never heard of this connection before. BUT, it looks like a BNC, not a firewire or iLink or IEEE-3394...so you'll need that capture card.
Looks like there is NO way to add an optional Firewire port either.
Ah well, at least with this you can get frame accurate captures and outputs.
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