Trimming and Archiving p2 clips

[BAJA PRODUCTIONS]

So here is the scenario:

I'd like to trim some of my p2 clips (the mxf files) then archive them for my stock library.

Currently I import clips to FCP and trim and make new clips. Then they are archived on hard drives in appropriate folders and tagged with metadata.

Question:
1. is it possible to trim the mxf files in some program in order to not waste space and keep the original MXF files?

2. i have heard many times that it is better to keep the mxf files for archiving purposes. Why is this better than importing to FCP and outputting as .MOV files? Is there any loss of some sort? Any meta data lost ? basically why do i keep hearing it's better to keep the MXF files. I am under the impression it's all digital data 0's and 1's so can anyone post on this?

Thanks,
JOhnny :badputer:

 

[Mark Smith]

Depends what you are trying to do.... if the task is to see what you shot, trim the clip, then store it, one could argue that you don't need the mxf's.

If you are going further into this and editing a project in FCP based on MXF's then you might want to keep the original mxfs because if you ever need to go back to the original project and restore clips with a batch capture, FCP is going to go look for the original MXF's.