exporting to avi questions

[lithium900]

EDIT - Forgot to say, I'm using MX.

Wow, didn't even know this forum existed. Glad it does, I need serious help.

I've been a Flash developer (for the web) for a little while now, but my company has just entered the realm of video editing and publication. Luckily, and to my surprise, Flash is an EXCELLENT video creation tool. I've never used Flash like this before, which is where my questions begin.....

1-When designing, what should I do differently to export to avi? What can and can't I do with avi's as far as Flash goes? I do know that you obviously can't use AS in avi format, but is there anything else?

2-I have a movie that I'm exporting to avi and it won't show all of the animation on the stage. It shows the full stage, but some symbols are left out. I thought maybe I set my dimensions wrong, but it's not that. I guess you'd need to see it to know what I'm talking about, so if anyone thinks they can help, let me know, I'll slap a copy on the web (I'll stream it), and we can go from there.

EDIT-Nevermind on question 2, I found my answer. I now know that mc's on the stage won't export in avi's. Seems as if it has to be a graphic on the main timeline to be seen in avi. Is that correct?

3-With this same movie I spoke of above, I had TONS of problems exporting it. I finally got it exported, but this was after SEVERAL attempts and I'm still not sure I did it the best way. Since I'm dealing with video that will be put on a DVD, quality is what I want...don't take file size into consideration at all. What's the best way? What compressor (need one that supports bmp's for this project, but others I don't have to use bmp's) should I use? What about the data rate, is 3745 good? Will raising or lowering it help the quality?

4-What's this video format all about? 8 bit color, 16 bit color, 32 bit w/ alpha....it's all greek to me. I tried them all, 8 bit and 16 bit were the only ones that didn't play back choppy. Again, I want to use the best quality here, so which should I use? How do I fix it so that the others don't playback so choppy?

5-Can you specify PAL or NTSC format? If not, which one does Flash use when it creates video files?

6-Finally, before I shutup, does anyone know of a website or forum more related to these kinds of questions? I love FK, but it seems it's more about web development than video production. This forum doesn't look like it gets much attention at all. I have so many questions about this new world, I really wish I could find a guru to sit and pow wow with for awhile.

Any advice, guidance, or simple hello's are appreciated. Thanks in advance!