I just completed my first music video but I'm not far along enough into DV to have had a chance to learn DVD Studio Pro. The video came out great but now I have to give it to my client on a DVD so he can replicate it and distribute them. So here's my question.

Is the best way to export it using Quicktime conversion (as a Quicktime Movie). The default setting is H.264 but is there another setting that doesn't compress in order to maintain full resolution for people that are going to be watching it on a DVD player? And another setting I'm not familiar with is "key frames." Since I'm shooting with an XL1 (NTSC) what is the correct setting.

Lastly, is Roxio Toast the best program for me to get to format it to a DVD
(since I don't yet know how to use DVD Studio Pro. Thanks for lisening to my "newbie" questions!!!

To maintain the highest possible quality, use Export as Quicktime Movie using current settings, NOT Quicktime Conversion.

Selecting "make movie self-contained" creates a large file that is independent of your source material. Not checking this box creates a smaller reference file that works perfectly as long as the source material (your project) is connected to the puter at the time

Drop this QT file into Compressor and select whatever setup you want (by length, quality etc) If your project is long, say over 90 minutes, in Compressor selecting AC3 audio saves space for your video encoding

If you want to avoid using DVD Pro and you don't need menus, chapters, etc then yes, you can just drop your QT movie into Toast and let it do the encoding and burning for you. You won't have as much control as you would in Compressor but if your movie is not long you should get good quality.