Low quality video output from Premiere Pro CS6

When you are ready to edit. One easy way to ensure good settings that match your footage is to drag a clip from your project window onto the new item icon at the bottom fo the project window. This will make a sequence with settings that match your footage (assuming that's what you want in most situations).

Then simply delete the clip from the sequence and start editing.

When ready to output, use the presets (like YouTube 1080). They are very handy and easy to use.

Hope this helps

Steve

I'm choosing H.264, HD 1080p 25 for the final vid.

Go to Sequence > Sequence Settings and take a screen shot of the dialog and post it here. Then, go the File > Export Media and post a screen shot of the Export Settings dialog.

What does the camera shoot, iow what settings are used? 720p50, 1080i25, 1080p25 or what?

The EX3 is a great camera and exports from Premiere Pro should look great. There is something in your settings in Premiere Pro that are wrong.

You are being too generic and vague. You have to provide exact render settings, project settings, preview settings, comparative screenshots etc.. The short version likely is that you are simply not using a high enough data rate for the final output and generally seem to have a few misconceptions about dealing with compressed formats. Of course an already compressed format like XDCAM will always degrade further when rendered to yet another, even more compressed format. That part can't be avoided, but there are ways to minimize these artifacts. In any case, more info is required.

Mylenium