hello,
very new to film and editing. learning and must do it fast. deadline looming. any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

shot a narrative film with my canon xh a1s in hdv 24p. captured all footage to fcp 6.0.6 using the 108024p capture and sequence preset. timeline looks great and getting ready to output to dvd for distribution. unsure about proper workflow.

1. should i use quiktime movie or quiktime conversion to export?

2. if i choose to use quiktime movie as i understand it, my footage will not be recompressed? allowing for maintenance of best image quality? but what about transitions?

3. because of transitions, must use quiktime conversion?

4. what settings must be selected in order for conversion from hdv to sd on dvd in order for anyone to watch dvd on their regular dvd player?

5. i want the dvd to letterbox film for dvd players unable to play hd footage?

i have read the chapters in manual on quktime movie and quiktime conversion but not sure.

6. when i import file into idvd in order to copy file onto dvd are their specific settings i must be aware of because footage shot in 24p?

main goal is to get timeline onto dvd for people to watch on regualr dvd player without any loss of image quality, ghosting, or skipped frames.

thanks for any and all help and info.

1. Neither - Use compressor

2. If you plan to export to HDV it must be recompressed anyhow.

3. Transitions have nothing to do with exporting. Those get rendered anyways.

4. Use compressor to make files for DVD.

5. DVD players will recognize the widescreen material and present it letterboxed on televisions.

6. In many cases the proper telecine will be applied so that the 23.976 material can play on 29.97 televisions. DON'T use iDVD. DVD Studio Pro came with your software, use it.

thanks devin for response,
totally unsure of how to handle this hd 24p timeline.

i exported it as qt movie. lost quality. looks as though im missing frames. footage is jerky and jumpy during pans.

i also sent hd timeline to compressor so converted into mpeg 2 file. looks even worse. blurry and jumpy.

do you have any suggestions as to proper workflow for an hd 1080p24 timeline to studio pro for sd dvd distribution.

thanks,
michael