Exact import settings for .mov files via MPEG Streamclip?

Question

Ok, as I mentioned in this other thread , I'm looking to import some files recorded at an odd resolution into FCE.
Resizing my 512x288 files to 720x480 looks like it works, as well as with my 640x480 ones (don't know how it'll ultimately mess with the quality)... but I did do a test using some footage from 3 different video sources with different native resoultions, a)720x480 Sony DV Cam, b) 512x288 captured by helmet cam on Archos PMA 430, and c) 640x480 captured on Canon SD600, as well as .jpeg photos at 640x480 res.
I changed the odd sizes (Archos & Canon) to 720x480 using MPEG Streamclip, resampling the sound uncompressed at 48 khz, using the Apple DV/DVCPRO NTSC compression option. Importing these files into FCE, I mixed them and the Sony standard footage, and a few pictures up on a timeline, rendered it and exported it to a QT file, then burnt a CD. It appears to have worked to my satisfaction.
My question is, before I go and convert about 60 5-10 minute clips to this 720x480 resolution for use in a full length documentary, are there any settings I should be ticking off on the MPEG Streamclip interface to maximize the likelihood that the final project will work as well as the test did?
Below are the options I selected in the test, which seemed to work:
MPEG STREAMCLIP
Compression: Apple DV/DVCPRO-NTSC
Quality: 100%
Sound: Uncompressed Stereo 48 KHZ
Frame Size: 720x480
Frame Rate: 29.97
Checked boxes for:
-Frame Blending
-Better Downscaling
-Interlaced Scaling
Zoom: 100%
X/Y: 1
Center: 0,0
Field Dominance: Upper field first
That's about it. I tried doing similar conversions in a trial version of DIVX Converter pro, but the quality was noticibly lower than in MPEG streamclip. Maybe I just had the wrong settings in it.
Anyway, Tom Wolsky has mostly got me on the right track in the last post "...so the material needs to be a .mov QuickTime file in DV NTSC, at 29.97fps, audio should be Linear PCM with a sample rate of 48KHz, and frame resolution of 720x480 using the CCIR601 digital video aspect ratio... be warned you're scaling up a very, very heavily compressed video stream, so it's going to look less than optimal when you make it DV. I can't believe they can do 192kbps at that frame rate, when DV, which is heavily compressed as well, is 3.5MB/sec."
I have no idea if what I described in my test is heavily compressed or not, so couldn't really say how the settings I mentioned above affect Tom's latter advice.
Anyway, any help would be welcome before I encode all these files. Thanks.
iMac 17-inch 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo   Mac OS X (10.4)  

Answer 1

I'm kind of confused because the only settings I could find on the Handycam for audio are 12 khz and 16 khz, and though I think I filmed them at 12, I've captured the footage at both within FCE... I'm not sure either have shown any probs when imported at 48 khz as yet. Not sure if that's because they are a multiple of 48 or I just got lucky. Either way, 1) does the audio bit rate the footage was captured at (12 khz) change to 16 if changed on the camcorder (or is it solely what the original was filmed in, period) prior to capture on FCE, 2) and if so or if not, how serious of a problem will it pose, if I do nothing and keep the FCE settings at the normal NTSC 48khz, in later stages of production considering there will be a lengthy timeline?
iMac 17-inch 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4)