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HD as in uncompressed HD, or mildly compressed as in D-5 HD or HDCAM Sr? Or formats like DVCPro HD? Or (most likely) HDV and AVCHD?
There's a big difference, because HDV and AVCHD are so heavily compressed that they actually require a LOT of processing power.
Assuming you're doing HDV or AVCHD and want smooth playback during editing even when you use effects I recommend the recently released Intel Core i7 chips (the 920 or 940 are good, if you have the cash the 965 is unbelievable).
Below that I'd say go with an Intel Core 2 Duo E7300, E8600, Q9400, Q9550, or Q9650
If you're okay with the occasional stuttering, the Q6600 is a great and very affordable Quad Core processor from Intel. Encoding is fast with it but actual editing not so much if you do HDV or AVCHD.
Contrary to popular opinion, for HDV editing clock speed IS still important so I'm afraid a Dual Core 1.8 Ghz won't do.
An old Pentium D or even Pentium 4 with very high cock speed (3.2 Ghz, 3.4Ghz) could suffice but those are certainly not nearly as nice as the ones listed above.
Core i7 and Core 2 Duo/Quadcore are your ticket.
If you get any of the Core i7 chips (recommended) you'll need to buy a special motherboard for the new LGA 1366 socket, old boards will not work with these.
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