Why isn't Final Cut Pro 6 asking me to change sequence settings to match .avi movie settings?

• Final Cut Pro 6 no longer asking me to change my sequence settings to match my clip settings. Why has it stopped doing this? Steps: I'm "importing" either .avi or .dv films. Creating a new sequence. Dragging a film into the new sequence. It used to ask me to change the sequence settings to match my clip. Now it's just saying I need to render the files. So, here's what the original file settings are, and what it seems new sequences start off as: Original files: .avi vid rate 30fps Frame size 640 x 480 Apple OpenDML JPEG data rate 1.8Mb/sec Pixel aspect: square Initial sequence settings: vid rate: 29.97 fps Frame size: 720 x 480 DV/DVCPRO - NTSC Pixel Aspect: NTSC - CCIR 601 When I dragged the .avi into the sequence, it didn't ask me to change the sequence settings to fit those of the clip. I tried changing the sequence settings to this: Frame size 640 x 480 640 x 480 DV/DVCPRO - NTSC Pixel Aspect: Square And even then, when I dragged the .avi onto the timeline, it still wanted me to render it. So... (sorry for the longwinded explanation) Trying to get around this another way, I used Mpeg Streamclip to change the movie to the following: .dv vid rate: 29.97 fps Frame size: 720 x 480 DV/DVCPRO - NTSC Data rate: 6.9Mb/sec Pixel Aspect: NTSC - CCIR 601 And when I tried to drag it onto the sequence, the same shit: need to render it. I changed the .dv's vid rate to 30fps, and when I dragged it into the sequence, I got the hallowed pop-up asking me if I'd like to change my sequence settings to match my clip settings. When I clicked "yes" there was no longer any need to render it. Phew! This has worked, but the .dv files are absolutely massive, and this seems ridiculous to have to do, as Final Cut is supposed to be able to handle .avi files. What's the right way of going about this? Even when I change a new sequence's settings to something ridiculous, it won't give me the "change settings?" pop-up with the .avi movies, but it will with the .dv movies. Does Final Cut not to this with .avi's? [I checked with .mov files, and I DID get the pop-up window, just like the .dv movies]

• Answer:

  File / Export / Movie to Quicktime Movie Hit Options Under Video hit Settings Change Compression Type to "Photo - JPG" or "Apple Pro Res 422" (not HQ) Under Compressor turn the Quality slider down to Medium Select Best quality (Multi-pass) Keep the Frame Rate Current and whatever Key Frames is set to leave it alone Hit OK to go back to the Movie Settings page Size sounds like it's 640x480 If there is Sound on your files select Integer (Little Endian) Sample rate: 44.1 kHz Sample size: 16 bit