Wide World of Women

I have a question for anyone using Elgato's Eyetv HD.
I have a number of programs recorded and would like to archive them, and also save some for editing montages later.
Most of them are standard definition although I hope to get into doing hd channels soon.

My question is for anyone using Eyetv hd, what are your export settings? (And if it makes any difference your capture settings if you are using something other then the default settings)
I would like to keep the best quality possible and I would also like to have the option to edit or trim the clip down to make montages in programs such as Final Cut Pro later.
Even for those not using Eyetv, what format do you keep your raw files in?

What settings should I use to preserve the recording in it's best quality and what format would you reccomend?
There are so many different options, and I'm still a newbie at all of this.......any help would be appreciated.