NanoFlash I'd keep in whatever native form you recorded them to. That would probably be .mov extension although I'd love to seem them use the more universal .mp4 rather than .mov or .mxf. It's funny how wrappers change. In world full of non standards .mp4 really is becoming universal.

Even Apple has played games with this. Note that .m4v used in video for iDevices is really just .mp4 but calls iTunes for example on opening. You can actually change .m4v to .mp4 as the metadata internal to the wrapper is the same. That can not be done with .mov (it can't be change to .mp4 or .m4v since some of the "internals" are in different places). This is another indicator that Apple is really looking to support .mp4 even if the wrapper extension may appear different.

Yes cameras are going to go to large chips very soon as Sony indicates with their $2000 interchangeable lens camera . . . which records to AVCHD. I'd expect the "pro" version by NAB next year or sooner. It won't be RAW though as the data rates are still too high for most recording media. I can't guess where Sony is going, whether such camera will be AVCHD, AVC Intra or, MPEG 50 4:2:2 or an MPEG I frame format.

Granted there are many ways to match settings are accept that they can't match but the metadata is definitely helpful to me. Even with different cameras it quantifies a lot about the "look" of the shot. In some respects it could even be more critical since that info can help match things. Knowing the narrow nature of the focus and the focal point of the subject can give me an idea where to go to set up a similar shot. Obviously it won't mean anything if you're not trying to do that . . . but I have and I am.

BTW given the movement in cameras and codecs it's all the more reason I think EX MOV is the "odd bird." It's way to proprietary (tied basically to one NLE) for me to consider that "archive."

As to the new codecs, I'm not sure if they'll be "direct" support in Quicktime as you now think of it. I think Apple will move to native support although it may be through the "tricks" that make the system think it's Quicktime as Calibrated Software does.

Craig and Olof: PLEASE just agree to disagree on this subject :) I know Olof has been doing this for decades and he has been successful; thus, he knows what works for him and his company. Craig has been obviously doing this for years and knows what works best for him and his company. It sounds as though Olof will never ever move from FCP whereas it sounds like Craig might but is waiting for FCP 4; thus. his trepidation about QT/MOV and native support.

I have been doing this for exactly 1 year and I don't even have a solidified workflow yet. So far, all I do is download the cards through my Siig expresscard to PCIe adapter, save all cards from one event to a single folder with a naming convention like this: xx VIDEO/2010/August/08-03_National_Night_Out_Cam1
After all cards are downloaded, I copy the new folder to both of my 2TB e-sata drives. Because I use Premiere, I never transcode and always keep the BPAV. Furthermore, I might add an Avid workstation for a 2nd editing workstation so I need to keep all options open.

For edited audio, stock video/audio and images, I copy and paste to another pair of 2TB drives (1 internal and 1 external). For everything else, I use Acronis Backup & Recovery 2010 and I use a "Grandfather" scheme - it backs up 3 days a week, once every week and once every month. It keeps the last 3 daily backups, last 3 weekly backups and last 3 monthly backups. This works great for going back to a prior version of a Premiere or AE project file, which I have only done with AE so far. Also, I have separate backups for my PPro files, AE files and Cinema 4D files.

Like I said before, another benefit to the BPAV folder is being able to use Flash Band removal plus whatever other features might be added to ClipBrowser down the road.

Olof, now that I think about it more, I think Craig is trying to convince you that FCP 4 will move to native support; therefore, you won't need to keep the MOV files because FCP 4 will be able to use the BPAV or MP4 at the very least.

Steve, you bring up some additional good points. ClipBrowser may introduce or improve features. FlashBand is a good example, Imagine, when the time comes to reuse the source copied pre FlashBand, to improve on that.

Regarding FCP, one doesn't know what changes are in store for it on many levels. Think of Media 100's history for example . . . all the ownership changes and some of the derivative systems and features.

Even though my approach is different than Olof (BTW I go back to 2" tape dub days) I think readers may want to see why we've arrived at our different places so they can evaluate their own directions. We've seen that in other parts of this forum where the veterans have significant reasons for very different workflows. Better to know a lot about all the options than not enough.

BTW I generally think it's no fun switching edit systems but I've had to do that at times in my life for reasons out of my control. There may come a time when the hardship of switching may be easier than the hardship of staying. This is especially so when a system goes away. EditDV and Discreet Edit* come to mind (although I never used the latter the possibility had come up). I certainly was THRILLED to go from CMX (how could you ever switch from a leading company) 6000 to this "start-up" called Avid in 1989. About 12 years later I was eyeing FCP closely although it had too many weaknesses at that point. By FCP 3 is was much easier to pry my hands away from Avid. For me, I have learned that "forever" generally only exists in the present tense.

I've sat on my hands whilst lurking on the thread, but have finally jumped in.

Craig and I have 'agreed to disagree' over on Vimeo - we both agree the other person has valid points, but our workflows differ too widely. For my part, I love the way XDCAM Transfer enables me to batch name movie files and embed metadata that shows up in Final Cut Pro - I can find footage using CDfinder, I can see metadata useful to me (who is this interviewee? What is the tummy tag info I need? Who do they work for?). When other shooters give me BPAVs to download using badly setup FTP sites, CalibratedQ comes to the rescue. When shooters give me BPAVs to download with no log notes, slates or even audio cues, I thank them dearly for letting me know they shot at f4 and at a colour temperature of 2960 Kelvin. So, when making a compilation of Mr X, top executive of whateverco, it's often the time it was shot that helps me, late at night, piece together who is who and what they're called.

Now, IF they had used XDCAM Transfer, AND they had typed in the info, I would get metadata that is USEFUL to... AN EDITOR. Heard of these guys? They get loads of footage flung at them, and as time goes by, the concept of 'logs' and 'slates' seem to have been forgotten because of 'metadata'.

But I will mention this: Craig is right to keep an eye on the future, as the future has this really tricky habit of becoming the past really quickly. I have material from the mid 1990s and earlier, stored as Macromedia Director 4 and (shudder) Accelerator movies that cannot be viewed now. They weren't kept up to date.

I worry slightly less about the movies I have in QuickTime format as I do worry about the edits I have in FCP1 format. Movies I made in the early 1990s are in MPEG1 format and they still play. The various format files (PCTS?) that some were archived in don't work now - and the cost of conversion aren't worth the cost of getting a consultant to work out how to unpick them, sadly.

The trouble is, in 30-50 years time, who will be able to unpick a FCP file, or even a BPAV or MOV for that matter? I foresee having to translate formats every 10-15 years on proper 'archive' stuff. PhotoJPEG QT was good for a while, but what will take over from that?

Meanwhile, I will remain naughty and stick with the 'keep your MOV, bin your BPAV - unless it's worth something in 10-15 years, in which case back it up in lots of formats' camp. And don't forget to make an XML EDL of your FCP edits! :)

Don't mix up MP4 and mp4, they are slightly different things.

.mp4 is an extension normally used on video files encoded using the mpeg4 codec also known as H264

.MP4 is a multimedia container defined by the MPEG group (MPEG 4 Part 14) that can be used to simultaneously contain any number of media streams including video, audio and data such as subtitles and still images. It is actually based on the Apple Quick Time .mov container but includes extra information about what is contained within the wrapper. The video and audio streams it can hold may be compressed using almost any kind of mpeg from mpeg 1 to mpeg 4 plus a few others as well. It's similarity to .mov is one of the reasons why it's easy to convert XDCAM EX files to .mov

This makes the MP4 wrapper very versatile and cross platform compatible.