I am meant to be editing a film that is being shot now with the HVX200,

and they are using 1080i/24p. This format/framerate combination is not an option

when setting up a project in avid media composer. Are there any ways of getting around this? The manual suggests an alternate project type of 1080i/59.94.

Also, the P2 files have been transferred to an external drive, and i was going to import them

straight from there into the avid. are there any disatvantages with importing in this fashion?

1080i/24p is a 1080i/59.94 clip with frame segmentation to give it a film look. This will work in a 1080i/59.94 project. This chart goes over what frame rate recorded on the HVX200 works in a specific project type. <http://www.24p.com/HVX200_1.htm>

Take a look at the tutorials here: <http://www.avid.com/p2/>

 When i try to import my P2 footage, i get an error message.  "Assertion failed:MediaDirs

file:\ppg\ame\msm\msmUtils.c, Line:387

what does this mean?

Do you have any '/' slashes or other wild characters in any of the names of the folders? This will cause this error.