importing from HD cam into iMovie08

[Doc Horrorshow]

Say I import my HD camcorder recordings at full res, is iMovie transcoding the files along the way? If so should I keep the original files elsewhere as archive files or do they exist in the same res/quality on iMovie as before?
Thanks in advance!
DH

 

[anthemus]

Say I import my HD camcorder recordings at full res, is iMovie transcoding the files along the way? If so should I keep the original files elsewhere as archive files or do they exist in the same res/quality on iMovie as before?
Thanks in advance!
DH

Personally, I would copy the entire folder structure to archive in a safe place. You never know if the transcoded files are good until you start working with them. Just to be on the safe side.