Hello, this is my first post here, but I'm putting all my hopes in you!

This is the situation: I have Sony HDR-HCR3 (ntsc) and always shoot HD video. For editing I use Vegas Pro 8, and for burning dvda 4.5 I live in Europe and own Panasonic 42x10 plasma tv and LG DVD player.

Now the problem: When I shoot the video and watch it in HD the picture quality is wonderful. If I watch it in SD directly from camera, it is still very, very good. When I capture it on my laptop still v. good. However when I edit it in Vegas and make DVD, then it is not so good. I tried milion settings and nothing produced good result. I tried capturing HD on laptop and then downconverting with Vegas, then capturing SD directly from camera and then editing in Vegas, but still not happy. I don't change format, I always work in NTSC, because my TV and DVD are both compatible. The picture is almost acceptable if I shoot something stationary, but if anything moves, either the subject or camera the result if awful.

I would like if someone very familiar with sony vegas can write a step by step procedure how to get the best result with my equipment and software. When I compare my HD to SD digital programs on my satellite, they look bad, but my DVD's look like pure rubbish if compered to them. I just want to make a decent DVD as for now I cannot afford anything that can record HD.

Thank you!