DV = MPEG4 = MPEG2 versus DV = MPEG2

Howdy All,
I believe I can see where Apple is going with iMovie'08 - MPEG4 (and beyond) is the future, DVDs are (so to speak) the past; iMovie'08 focuses on quick production and sharing of relatively short videos online, FCP (Express) is for making more professional movies and DVDs.
However, whilst I haven't got FCP (Express) I would like to know how much of a hit in quality (discernible to the average viewer?) would one see in going from DV => MPEG4 which iMovie'08 does when rendering for the MediaBrowser and then MPEG4 => MPEG2 which iDVD does?
Cheers,
Ashley.

I was, however, referring to iMovie'08 which I believe does convert to MPEG4 (I assume Apple uses H264 inside) when sharing via the Media Browser (at least for "large" exports it seems to).
"Shared" files are all compressed as H.264/AAC files using Apple's contextual settings approach. Large, medium, and mobile files are stored in the M4V file container while tiny files are stored in a 3GP file container.
I wanted to know whether this conversion would noticeably effect the final conversion to MPEG2 in iDVD so I could decide whether using iMHD06 (PowerPC) / FCE would be worth the time / cost?
There really seems to be a wide range of opinion here. Many users seems to see little or no difference while others claim their quality deteriorates drastically. This appears to be connected as much with the work flow used and/or the particular hardware being used as it is with any user's subjective opinion regarding quality. My advice here would be to make your own tests using typical content on your platform best configured for video editing using your "normal" work flow and evaluate the final results for yourself. For myself, I see little difference, but then my source files are all HDV converted to AIC/AIFF for editing with the project being exported in the same format to GarageBand for chaptering. Final target conversion depends on target use. For DVD use, I tend to prefer conversion by bitVice or Compressor and burning in DVDSP even when performing "quickie" edits in iMovie '08.
Of course, "noticeable" is a relative term and that is why I tried to be more specific and mentioned the "average viewer." I'm sure a videophile could tell the difference.
Am sure most of us here agree with you on this point.

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