New to FCP - Can't burn dvd + MPEG-1 banding problem

[Jim Duggins]

I just got a Mac with FCP Studio 2 and am learning it all from scratch. I can edit my projects just fine, but can't for the life of me figure out how to burn my FCP projects to DVD. I've tried iDVD and DVDSP. Neither one makes a dang bit of sense to me, and all of the documentation I've found (included or online) hasn't helped. They refer to "click this tab" or "click that menu" and don't explain where or what they are. They are referencing things that don't appear to exist, or at least are not labeled properly, like the outline tab in DVDSP--no idea what that is. I tried to follow the advice here (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93812) but couldn't find the outline tab. All I get are failed build errors when I try to burn.

iDVD seems simpler, but wants to put a stupid "theme" on everything. I don't want a menu or "theme," just a straight burn that plays instantly. I don't care about looping. Just need to get my project on DVD.

Also, whenever I try to make an MPEG-1 from my project, all these ugly banding artifacts get introduced.

[Benjamin Hill]

First of all breathe. Then, take a close look at the DSP interface, the outline tab is there in the upper left. Depending on what version of DSP you have it may show a Graphical tab as well, which you can switch from back to Outline.

Then, just follow the instructions from your Apple link for creating the video track and setting that track as First Play. You can simulate it before you burn to be sure it is functioning the way you want it to.

If you can figure out FCP then you should have no problem with DSP or iDVD. iDVD is simple but not simple enough that people don't have problems trying to use it. I recommend DSP because of the greater control and better encoding.

Then, when you've figured out DSP, you can graduate to the new Compressor interface.