The effects manual says that if Avid dropped frames on playback (in my case, failed export to QT Reference) it will display red lines on the TC track. Well I've had a few situations where the red line appears on a portion of one of the video tracks. What does this mean? Same thing? Different?

If you have Dupe Detection turned on, that may appear as a red line on a video track.  Dupe Detection only applies to V1.

If there's a partially-rendered effect on the clip, the red line could be marking the portion of the effect that is unrendered.

good luck,
Carl

Yup, you might want to check out this thread:

http://community.avid.com/forums/p/69511/388794.aspx#388794

HTH.

camoscato:

the red line could be marking the portion of the effect that is unrendered.

Thats definitely it. It's not on V1 and when I change the render range in the timeline fast menu, the lines go away. Rendering in/out around the lines made my export go smooth as silk. Thanks for the help! One more question: Does the Video quality button in the timeline effect render time/quality? Or is it simply for playback?

It only affects playback. Render quality is affected by the Render tab of Media Creation settings, which you choose in the Project Window.

BobbyMurcerFan:

Render tab of Media Creation settings,

Got it. So if i'm working offline in 20:1 MXF, and making a quicktime ref, the most efficient settings would also be 20:1, correct? If thats the case, selecting the "same as source" selection should keep me at the most efficient settings?

the_don:

and making a quicktime ref, the most efficient settings would also be 20:1

A quickime ref doesn't do any recompression, it points to the original media. That being said, it does need to render effects for the Ref file and those wil be determined by your media creation settings.