I'm rendering some animations made in poser, at 720x480 to be included in a DVD. Which codec should I use to get the BEST image? File size and render time are not important, just quality. Alberto Odor, MD

If file size is no consideration, you can render uncompressed .avi or .mov files. If you're taking it into an intermediate application to add audio, titles or do any kind of editing or special effects, you can render as a sequence of still images. The benefit to that is that if something goes wrong and your machine crashes during the render it's a lot easier to pick up rendering at the last successfully rendered frame. I usually use the "Animation" compressor - which is the highest quality compressor. I sometimes use the DV codec when file size is an issue. Also, DVDs use uncompressed audio at a 48000 sample rate. Either 24 or 16 bit.

Before they made me they broke the mold!
http://home.roadrunner.com/~kflach/

If you have access to a newer Mac that comes with a DVD drive and iDVD and iMovie - that's the easiest way to combine video, audio, slide shows, menus, etc. into a great DVD project. I second Bobasaur's recommendation for rendering Poser animation as a sequence of still images (which you can then use later in other ways). I assemble the stills into a video with Final Cut Express, but I'm sure you can do it in the free iMovie. When iDVD creates your final project, it compresses the video in proper DVD format. HTH - Elisa/gryffnn

The safest thing would be using MPEG audio(for file size if that's an issue) and if you are making a dvd it'll have to be compressed in MPEG2 format. If you go to Sourceforge.net (no www) they have a free set of DVD authoring tools (DVDauthor)

Thank you all, I'm using a Pentium Workstation with Adobe Premiere Pro for video editing and Adobe Encore for DVD construction. I think I'll go with your recommendation of rendering the animations as still's sequences and edit them in premiere.

Attached Link: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

Here's a great site for help with creating DVDs(codec etc).