[William Duke]

Well if that’s the simple answer to my problems I’m going to feel very embarrassed… but it does seem to be the case! This morning I exported the timeline according to its current settings and, sure enough, it did play back properly in Final Cut (this has happened before, but I assumed that was some sort of error on Final Cut’s behalf, not Quicktime). It even worked in iTunes.

I can only assume that, by the time I was also checking my videos in iTunes and replaying them regularly in Final Cut I was already so far into tweaking the output settings for a random desired affect that the footage actually was de-interlaced, explaining the lines in playback on those programs as well as Quicktime. As for the converter programs on my Windows computer… Well they may very well have de-interlaced the footage without my knowledge, or perhaps their media player has the same issue. Either way it is not a concern at this point.

I suppose the lesson here is to trust my admittedly basic training a little more, and certainly more in Final Cut itself. My base assumption for years has always been to blame the editing program first, however if I had been thinking pragmatically I would have realize sooner the majority of the issues this time oriented with Quicktime.

Either way I thank you very much for the help. With this resolved I can finally move on to my next project. Perhaps a minor dedication in the credits is in order for a Mr. Brad Wright?