exporting from FCP for the big screen

Hi,

I know my way around FCP a bit but I'm still not so savvy when it comes to video codecs.

I'm working on a short film. I had a version of it on a DVD that I didn't have the FCP project file for anymore, so I couldn't just burn another copy. But I needed to add subtitles.

So I ripped it off the DVD, added subtitles, and tried to export it again using QuickTime conversion, QT, Compressor... But whatever I try, it looks terrible-- very pixel-y.

The stats for the footage:

854x480
29.97fps
Compression: H.264
Pixel Aspect: Square
Field Dominance: None

I'm assuming that as I've compressed the footage once, I'm not going to get a good result no matter how I export. But where do I go from here? Do I need to reassemble the project with the original, uncompressed footage? Are there any shortcuts for doing this? (hope, hope...)

thanks in advance for any advice!

Kai