I am working with HD footage, yet i haven't finished the film i'm making. I want to see a little section of it, and test output/export settings to see what i will finally use. I'm using Final Cut Express 3.5, and every single export i've done so far doesn't look good at all. What i really want is to have the export looking almost/or as good as the source clips I originally used. The HD clips have these settings:

1920 x 1080
Apple intermediate codec
(widescreen)

I've tried exporting using quicktime converter, and i've tried export quicktime movie. When i exported quicktime movie, the end result was really crappy/pixely version of it, nowhere NEAR HD. When i used quicktime convert (and i've been playing with the settings alot), i can't seem to get the proper settings to look good.

What should i do?