What are YOUR best settings to exporting/rendering HD video?
 

I am shooting on a Canon HF200 in AVCHD formate and then converting to Cineform Neo Scene AVI's for the INTERMEDIARY for editing.

I get good image quality with the intermediary. However, I am getting terrible results no matter what I am exporting/rendering off the timeline. I notice a loss of some color and sharp/crispness, especially when I say it as SD AVI such as NTSC DVD - not that it should be a surprise as it's only 4:1:1.

My idea uses for the footage is web video/youtube, SD DVD, and local computer playback. What are your favorite settings and formats to use that keep the quality high and the file size as low as possible?

In the other thread where you asked about Elements vs CS4, you mentioned that you are using the trial. I'd assume Adobe has to respect the same licensing restrictions for Elements that they do for the CS suites -- the trials of those suites have some HD exports disabled. Maybe that issue is affecting your output?

Go to Vimeo (Vimeo, Video Sharing For You) and follow their instructions for the best export of footage in 720pHD. I use that for video uploads to Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube and have beautiful results!