I'm going to second your number 2 and 3. Although instead of IN/OUT points, I'd prefer something similar to Premiere's "work area" idea. I think it'd fit better with how X is designed.
My big one has to be with audio handling. This is particularly important now that multicam has been introduced. Often times in multicam workflows, you're dealing with upwards of 8-20 discrete audio tracks (especially in reality tv). I don't have a problem with them being synced and embedded in a video angle, but there NEEDS to be an easy way to get to the individual audio layers to make adjustments, or silence the unneeded tracks.
My proposal is for a "step in" feature where if you double click a clip with embedded audio that it expands to show you ALL individual audio tracks allowing you to easily make keyframe adjustments or trims to layers. Then when you escape out, it closes back up again. In this mode, you won't be able to affect the audio track's position (FCP will still keep the sync), but you can make all other audio edits to it.
Andy
http://www.timesavertutorials.com
