[kalabula]

I was told that everytime a project is rendered it looses a bit of quality. Is this true?

 

[Moby]

Yes but you should only be rendering a project once from your editing software.
1- Import video/music etc into your project. Make sure your project properties match what you want to do with it in the end ( eg create a DVD)
2 - Edit it.
3 - Always save your project file when editing is finished.
4 - Render your project to your hard drive with still the same properties for the type of disc you want.
5 - Create your one DVD or a hundred DVD's from this rendered file, especially at this point sticking to the properties you have hopefully stuck with throughout.

If all else fails or you want to change settings/properties, you start again from your already created and saved project file which contains the links to the as yet unrendered original files. You are then not re-rendering already rendered files.

These are the sort of properties I'm talking about that will give you a decent quality DVD assuming the input files are up to scratch. You can of course set different settings but whatever they are, start and finish with the same ones.

( U.S. DVD settings)

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First for digital capture {if capturing analog use "Upper Field First"}
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3 (or 16:9 for widescreen)
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 224 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo

In the wrong order but going back to the video capture process - DV is probably the best format to capture from a camcorder and to edit with, but if you take the plunge and capture direct to Mpeg2 ready for DVD, again capture at the same properties/settings at that stage too.