Check your compression. Cinepack or video are good, especially at higher settings. For some reason the standard compression settings are set to about half and as a result images look bad.<br>
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Lighting is also a big factor, do it well and it will look great, do it poorly and it will look crap. Render a pile of stills and see how it looks. Bright ambient lights are good if you want even lighting over the whole scene but they don't workvery well if you are trying for a dark mood. <br>