I am working with Panasonic AVCHD (MTS extension) files from an AC-130 camera. I am preparing a large project where I will need to prepare several hundred clips with DVE and compositing before assembly into the final video. It's more than I think PP nesting was really designed to handle, so I am thinking about processing each clip and exporting the results to a workfile for that clip. I'll do my assembly from the workfiles and proceed from there.
I am concerned about losing quality with the additional layer of rendering (raw footage --> workfile --> assembly edit). So here's my question: What would be the highest quality rendering format for my workfiles? Ideally, I'd like to find something absolutely lossless. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.