Compression is a hard thing to master, and I've been learing a lot lately. Here's my scoop. I use Adobe Premier for putting all my videos and animations together, and to add sound, titles, ect. However, I never use any of the compression settings (i.e. Sorense Codec etc.) for my final output. What I do when I have the scene finished is output the video with No Compression (when choosing which compression, it is the last one on the list). This, of course, makes extremely large files, and at 640x480, you can expect to get these files upwards 100Mb+. But then you have your final, uncompressed copy ready (and it doesn't take long to save either because it isn't compressing it at all), and it is in full detail. Now is when you plan on compression, which depends on what you want to use the video for. For most of what I do, I do the above, then load this file back into Premier and output it again at 320x240 (no compression again if I want to make an MPEG using avi2mpg1 freeware program or to make it Real Media) or with one of the Codecs. Compressing the uncompressed version, without all the layers and stuff, should help with the strangeness you get on your compressions. You can also try adjusting the Keyframes (like at every edit) but this makes the file larger. If you plan on putting it on the web, I'd try a 320x240 or smaller res, 15fps, compressed AVI or MOV. Remember your audience, some people may not beable, or want to, use certain codecs. If you plan on cutting it to video, keep the 640x480, 30fps (29.97 even) and use your video card compressor. Hope I helped. f055