I'm not into HD yet, just DV tapes and then burning DVDs. I have a Canon XL2 so I'm starting with good resolution tapes. I've tried rendering to MPEG-2 (which lose some focus) and then making a DVD, or rendering to AVI (which look excellent) and letting the DVD program do the conversion. I wind up with a DVD which has softened focus, although I think working from AVI has some improvement. I've used Nero, Windows DVD maker, and Sony DVD Architect Pro 5. What is the best way to go about this? Nero says to render first to MPEG-2 or it will do it for you from an AVI file. And which DVD authoring program has anyone found to be really good?