Reporting Back-EX1 render times

Hey everyone. The verdict is in and here is the workflow I'm finding works best as far as quality and render times when working with native EX1 footage going to SD DVD in FCP. This method follows very closely to what others have posted. Just want to give credit where it is due. All I have done is simplify the explanation of workflow.

1. Drop footage onto timeline and allow FCP to match the sequence settings to the clip settings
2. Edit project
3. Create an SD sequence
4. Drop the EX sequence onto the new SD timeline, DO NOT COPY AND PASTE, DRAG THE SEQUENCE FROM THE BROWSER ONTO THE NEW SEQUENCE TIMELINE.
5. Export a self contained MOV file in the codec of your choice from FCP
6. Import that MOV file into compressor and compress using whatever settings are appropriate for the project
7. Bring the compressed files into the DVD authoring software of choice, author and burn

The other way I tried was to bring the FCP timeline into Compressor directly, this took significantly more time to render and I wasn't as happy with the quality. There are a lot of variables that anyone doing this needs to consider, such as was the original footage shot in Progressive or Interlaced. I rarely shoot Interlaced any more so I can't comment on that. All I can say is I'm happy with the results of the above workflow. To me, this is the simplest way to guarantee I will be happy with the results and don't end up having to spend the rest of my life rendering.

Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media