Thanks Marrs for the response.....very useful! Still doesn't answer why the quality is suffering during the rendering. I assume if I followed the same path as I did before I would also see loss of quality in a dv recording. I know the obvious answer is to buy all the newest gear with dual core processors and 3 seperate HDs and a camera that's the mutts nuts but I'm not trying to be Scorsese, just want to put some home video onto dvd. I went the digital 8 route a couple of years ago due to having a pile of old 8mm tapes that still need editing. Any more constructive replies would be very welcome.