The DV-AVI format is the right choice, usually, when working mainly with
video clips when your final destination is going to be a DVD. But if working
mainly with still images it tends to not work as well, as you've noticed, so
then I use High Quality (NTSC) which creates a high quality WMV (Not WMA as
you said) file to burn to DVD. If you aren't planning to make a DVD out of
the movie then "Video for local playback" is fine.
Digital Media Converter will convert to MPEG2 just fine but I hope you don't
think that burning the MPEG2 video to a DVD is going to playback in your DVD
Player because it won't. MPEG2 is the format used in DVD Players but they
are converted to VOB files first so you still need a DVD Authoring program
to create your DVD or VCD. There's a list on my website of some of the most
popular programs and most of them do offer free trial downloads.
-Wojo
--
Wojo's Web:
http://www.remember-christopher.dostweb.com/Wojo's_web/
Also Please visit.....
http://www.remember-christopher.dost...m/christopher/

"Tim" <Tim@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B63127DD-6ACA-4F4A-9636-EDDD006EE26A@microsoft.com...
>I am putting together a comprehensive montage of pictures and music of a
> recent trip and have put together 14 segments ranging in length from 2 -
> 15
> minutes. I am nearing completion and have been testing the waters. I first
> tried "Video for local playback 2.1 mbps" and discovered that the quality
> was
> quite sharp (wma file). However, I recently caught hold of Papa John's
> site
> and saw that I should do DV-AVI format... but everything did not come out
> as
> crisp... it was like I have a slight case of astigmatism!
> BTW... I found a piece of software, Digital Media Converter 2.5 (trial
> version first), that can change my wma file to MPEG2 and it appears to be
> fine.
> What should I do?
> Kindest regards... Tim
> PS: Don't let this cloud the above issue, but should I use Nero for my
> Authoring software? Is it slick and easy to use?