Quality loss when choosing Widescreen project settings. (raw footage is widescreen)

Hi all,
I am using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
I shot some footage in 16:9 format. when I view the original video it looks fine. Here is the problem: When I create a standard format video project in PP, it looks fine, but that cuts off the sides of the footage so of course I want to use the 16:9 format. However, when I create a new project and choose that 16:9 format, the video looks what I would call "fuzzy" in the preview window. Also when I export the video, it has the same problem.
I shot in 16:9 Standard HQ 570p.
I would appreciate the help!

>16:9 Standard HQ 570p
I have never seen 570p... what camera?
Read Bill Hunt on a file type as WRAPPER http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037?tstart=0
What is a CODEC... a Primer http://forums.adobe.com/thread/546811?tstart=0
What CODEC is INSIDE that file? http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037?tstart=0
Report back with the codec details of your file, use the programs below
For PC http://www.headbands.com/gspot/ or http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en
For Mac http://mediainfo.massanti.com/
Once you know exactly what it is you are editing, report back with that information... and your project setting, and if there is a red line above the video in the timeline, which indicates a mismatch between video and project
Also... if you do have HiDef and you are exporting to Standard Def, there WILL be a loss of quality

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now I am quite baffled. For years ago I conducted respective tests and demonstrated, that repeated saving with the same "quality" does not introduce image deterrioration; others did the same tests and came to the same result.
Now, to be sure, I did it again, and the result contradicts my earlier findings. Although the deterrioration is after five consecutive savings practically irrecognizabe without hugely amplifying it, it is there, and that is an issue of principle.
While it is possible, that I and others made some error in those tests, the question is (for me) what causes the difference.
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Subject: [4] How well does JPEG compress images?
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Read more: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/part1/#ixzz0UKB59gND
Message was edited by: Old Toad

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