Getting text to look good in FCP X

Cutting a simple 1080p 29.97 ProRes project using FCP 10.0.4 and Lion 10.7.3. Using Helvetica titles (created in Photoshop CS 5.1 anti aliased). Feeding out via Matrox MXO2 to FSI 17" monitor the text has jagged edges. It's usable, but it is not up to my standards. By contrast, Motion titles look good in the exported QT file, but exhibit the same jagged edges in FCP X. This leads me to believe that it is an issue with X. Any ideas?

Is the Playback settings in preferences set to High Quality? If not make sure it is.

Also I have noticed on my MX02 mini that text edges out of FCP X appear a little "too sharp" on my 24" LCD (not a FSI, just a Dell via HDMI). Almost like there is a black stroke or outline on the text. Things look much better on my 13" Sony CRT (but of course everything looks great on it!) I'm suspecting that the Matrox drivers are responsible for this "too sharp" look because the actual image in the FCP X viewer as well as the exported QT movie look just fine. I would examine your exported QT file in QuickTime Player at 100% next to your FCP X viewer at 100% and see how those compare.

BTW. I just delivered a spot for national broadcast with FCP X generated text and frankly I was shocked how well it rendered. I used to set all my titles in photoshop, but frankly I've never seen output as nice as what the FCP X title engine (which is really Motion) spits out. The resulting ProRes sent to the dub house was pristine.

Also I typically blur titles just a bit and pull down the whites down to about 90% - both of which you can do in the FCP X "face" settings.

Sidebar Tip: Resize fonts by "Font Size", not by "Scale", to keep them clean and sharp.

I don't think it's a Matrox issue- I see the issue even on the exported QT issue even when I tested a title I made in FCP X. Could the Matrox driver affect my Quicktime output?

Title created in the FCPX generator look great to me - just finished a spot using Helvetica Neue light and they look fantastic. Monitoring on an UltraStudio 3D hooked up to a 1080p monitor via HDMI.

Is it something you can create using FCPX instead of photoshop?

Yep, text in my FCP X stuff always looks great.

@truelife2 you say your project is 1080p so progressive footage shouldn't be an issue. But, if you actually have interlaced footage and FCPX is set to show only 1 field of data, your text would look jagged. If it is interlaced, check to see on the switch near the viewer if you are set to "show both fields".

Yes- I will check all these things. Turns out FCP X just didn't like my PSD files and upon further inspection, the native FCP X titles were perfect. Thanks to all for your assistance.