Can anyone tell me at what point does one add a clip description or alternative name to clips so that they can be better identified for use. Do you do this in the Clip Browser Software or within FCP during the Log and Transfer utility ? Thanks.

In FCP you can change the names in the bin, then right click the clip(s) and choose "Rename file to match clip".

Really you should be doing it in Clip Browser so that clip browser then writes the data back to the original material using the update button. You can also batch edit the meta data by selecting the card, folder or clips and the going "edit" "Batch edit clip properties". Once you have changed or added metadata in Clip Browser you can then use it's "Find" tool (or the transfer tools "search" tool) to find what you are looking for. One neat and often overlooked Transfer Tool function is the ability to save a PDF log sheet with thumbnails and metadata of all selected clips by using the "print" option and selecting PDF.

Then when you use the XDCAM Transfer tool to import into FCP you can use the preferences to select whether you use the clip title 2 you defined in clip browser when you import your clips.

If you rename in FCP then the only thing that gets changed is the name of the .mov file, the original MP4 will then end up with different names and metadata to the files you are editing with which could be extremely confusing in the future.

Thanks for the helpful information. If I already have projects in FCP but now go back into Clip Browser and add clip names or desciptions will it screw up the path/connection to my existing projects. What's the best way (which attribute fields) to add subject attributes and quality ranking so that I can more easily sort and locate material in the future. Thanks again, love this site.

You can change the status of clips to OK, Keep or NG in clip browser.
If you add data in the description or creator fields this will have no impact on any clip names. However adding the data here will not add it to any clips you have already imported as .mov's into FCP.