Yall I really need some help. All of the results I've serached for are vauge and contradictory. I've editied a serious FCP project and want to build a DVD with it. I want the absolute best quality DVD, with the least amount of recompressions in the process. My inclination would be to export my FCP project as a "reference movie" and then bring it into DVDSPro. This would avoid the double compression with exporting by "making movie self-contained" then re-encoding it to MPEG 2 in DVDSPro. Is this the right way to go? I'm then faced with this dilemma. Why should I use "Compressor" to do this rather than DVDSPro's built-in encoder? If I were to use Compressor on the highest quality setting, then lower the bit-rate in DVDSPro, wouldn't it have to re-encode it? Should I just use DVDSPro's built-in encoder? Why is compressor better? I know I'm ranting, so I'll sum up the questions and if ya'll can answer them all or sum up the whole process in detail, I'd be EXTREMELY grateful.

1. Is the "reference movie" the best option?

2. Should I use Compressor or DVDSPro's encoder?

3. Will either method maintain the automatic compression markers between each clip in my original project?

Bryan,

I can't answer all your questions, and I believe there's no single perfect answer/method for all types of material. But, here's something that maybe would be a good starting point for your search: the "bonsai method".

http://www3.telus.net/bonsai/Welcome.html

Hope this gets you a step further!

- Martin