Footage becomes grainy when burned to DVD, what am I doing wrong?

Got a 24p short film shot on dvx100 and edited in fcp 5.1. I export it as a .mov file with "best quality" and all else default, and when I play it with Quicktime, the quality is as good as when playing the sequence in viewer. However, when I burn the .mov file onto a DVD-player compatible disc in iDVD, the footage loses quality and becomes grainy.

A regular 24p clip shot at 1/24s slowed down to 50% loses a bit of quality when played in viewer or quicktime, but again, when burned with iDVD, it is interlaced with big lines and unwatchable.

Should I export and burn in format other than .mov? Is this happening because iDVD is converting it again (MPG4?)

thank you

vw

<<<Is this happening because iDVD is converting it again (MPG4?) >>>

iDVD only has two states, what you feed it and the MPEG2/DVD compressed output. No middle ground--at least the older ones don't.

You're problem is comparing the canvas or viewer to the output DVD. Those are very different because FCP takes some severe shortcuts to show you the work surfaces--you're not watching the whole movie there.

If you watch the computer output Final Cut playback on a glass monitor *before* you burn the DVD, you will see the same errors. Is the show really 24, or 23.976? 24 Doesn't easily convert directly to NTSC without errors. Do INFO to make sure.

Koz

Thank you for replying, it is 23.976. I was told to try to convert directly to mpeg2 with compressor...we'll see if that fixes it.

<<<we'll see if that fixes it.>>>

And if it does, do write back and tell us. Also write down the steps you took to get there.

If it doesn't work, there are other things to do. I routiney produce excellent MPEG2 movies from our company 23.98 progressive work, so I know it's possible (I'm using tools on a PC). I still think you have more damage than you think because of the Final Cut viewing tools. The video shouldn't be that bad.

Koz

as suggested, i made the leap and spent a day figuring dvdsp4 out. now i export in mpg2/aiff/ac3 and get lossles tranfer. thank you all.