24p dvd looks bad!! But good on xbox360, why?

Why not post same real info.

Did you shoot 24pA or 24p with the camera?

What framerate is are the captured clips as listed in the FCP bin?

What are your sequence settings? How did you export and encode the m2v?

Without this info we are just guessing.

If you edited it as 29.97 you have to compress it at 29.97, almost impossible to go back now. If you want 24p DVDs you need to shoot, edit and encode 24p.

Some DV cameras (such as Panasonic DVX) are true 24p capable cameras but going to tape they have to use a pull down to get them to 29.97. If you shoot that camera set on 24pA, the pulldown is such that all the extra fields are removed when capturing (Advanced Pulldown Removal), then you edit and encode as 24p (23.98).

If you use a camera that does a fake 24p it is adding a different type of pulldown that works better as 29.97i but cannot be removed as cleanly.

But once you start editing 29.97 there is no way to cleanly remove the pulldown of any kind. You need to stay with 29.97 with the encode.

it is not a matter of better it is what do you need to do and what do you want. If you want true 24p then you shoot 24pA, capture with Remove Advanced Pulldown, edit on a 23.98p timeline and then encode as 24p. This just you a clean 24p filmic look, it also has less frames to compress so you get a more bang for your buck. But to add a little confusion, unless you have a Progressive dvd player and digital TV and hook it up via component or HDMI cable, the DVD player adds the pulldown on the fly and outputs a 29.97 signal anyway.

But if you have video coming from several cameras and some of it is 29.97 or you are adding footage to an existing project that is 29.97, then you shot 24p and capture it as 29.97 and it cuts better in that scenario, and it still gives you close to the save look.

So in the end it is not that big of a deal but what is important it that you use the workflow and don't switch in the middle of the project.

almost every hollywood title is 24p material.

I already stated what happens. the player adds the pulldown to make it 29.97 interlace.