New to HD video editing

Question

So I just got my first HD cam (Panasonic HDC-SD5), quality looks really good with the camera directly plugged in, via component, to a 1080p LCD HDTV.
Here are my questions:
1. What app (if any) works best with editing HD clips (AVCHD raw format).
2. What format or proceedure should I be looking into, to transfer movie to a standard DVD, with keeping the HD quality as much as possible (I know it will degrade somewhat).
3. If I wanted to make a .mov or .avi of the HD clip, what format and setting should I be using to keep the HD quality as much as possible. Especially if I'm looking to import into After Effects.
4. If I'm burning movies onto a Blu-ray media, what is the best way to go about doing this, to get the most out of the HD quality.
I've actually been playing around with #3. I've always thought that H.264 was the codec for HD, That format saves the file as .m4v, but the quality degrades quite a bit, even at the highest setting. Then I tried MPEG-2 format, this format actually gave me a setting for HD 1080i, and the quality was almost identical to the original AVCHD (.mts) file.
I've also been playing around using Toast 10's BDVM burn feature of the original .mts files, and that's pretty good quality too. The only problem with Toast is that you can't edit the MTS files. Hence why I'm asking for advice on pre-burning techniques.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

1. What app (if any) works best with editing HD clips (AVCHD raw format).
Use iMovie 08 or 09. The clips will be converted to Apple Intermediate Codec when imported from your camera for editing.
2. What format or proceedure should I be looking into, to transfer movie to a standard DVD, with >keeping the HD quality as much as possible (I know it will degrade somewhat).
Share movie to iTunes or to Media Browser with the Large preset. Open iDVD and drag in the movie from the Media Browser. In iMovie 09, you also have the option of Sharing the movie straight to iDVD. Since you have Toast, you can also use Toast if you prefer.
3. If I wanted to make a .mov or .avi of the HD clip, what format and setting should I be using to >keep the HD quality as much as possible. Especially if I'm looking to import into After Effects.
For most purposes, share to Media Browser or to iTunes in Large Preset. You can also Share to quickTIme and share using custom settings for h.264 or any codec that works well with after effects.
4. If I'm burning movies onto a Blu-ray media, what is the best way to go about doing this, to get >the most out of the HD quality.
Share to QuickTime using AIC codec, current dimensions (1920x1080). Drag the resulting file into TOAST.