Q: Final Cut DVD exporting Settings Help!

First and foremost, you need to realize that you cannot maintain 100% quality if the video is compressed.  In order for the video to meet the DVD standard (and be able to play in DVD players) it HAS to be compressed to MPEG-2.

Also bear in mind that the VX2000 records in DV format, which is compressed at a 5:1 ratio in camera and DV requires about 13.3GB of space per hour of footage.  Since there's only about 4.3GB of writable space on a standard, single-layer DVD disc (DVD-5), it is fairly easy to see that the DV video will have to be compressed even if it didn't have to be converted to MPEG-2.

However, you can control how much compression takes place by using sophisticated compression applications like Compressor or Sorenson Squeeze.  Apps such as those allow you to make custom compression settings based on the duration of your video.

Another thing you can do to keep quality at a higher level: keep the video short - long videos will require more compression to fit onto a DVD disc.  2 hours is about the maximum duration for most DVD authoring apps so the shorter the video, the lower the compression rate can be.

-DH

For DVD use, Export to QT Movie.   It's as 100% as you can get out of FCE and is the only method recommended for exporting for DVD burning.

Do not export to QT Conversion if your target is to burn a DVD.

should I bring it into a compressor software to convert it to something else?

The file you exported from FCE is an input file to your DVD authoring application ... iDVD, Roxio Toast, etc.   Authoring apps like these will take care of the necessary encoding & burning to DVD media themselves.   You can set up a disk menu and also chapter menus if you set them up in FCE before you exported your video.  Do not alter or otherwise recompress or encode your FCE exported file; just use it straight as an input file to your DVD authoring app.

As far as I know, you could alternatively use Apple Compressor to create a DVD-encoded file and burn to DVD, but I do not believe there is any way to create menus in Compressor (assuming you want a menu).  In this case you would still use your FCE exported file as an input file to Compressor.

Or can this file be put right on the DVD?

No, don't do that.  It would create a data-DVD containing the file you exported from FCE, which could not be played in a DVD player.

I currently have MPEG Streamclip installed- would that work if need be?

No.