I don't know anything about PAL, but...
Exporting to Master File should get you the best results, but yeah it is a large file. Is Master File giving you the quality you expect?
Also, have you tried using the built-in "Share to YouTube" feature in FCPX? Any difference there? I use that often and it seems to work great.
What are the timeline settings for your project? Is that 25p also?
As far as my question 3, when you go to import footage, you have options to choose from. Native is generally fine, Optimized will create copies of the clips in a format optimized for playback performance, but should not have an effect on the final export. No need to create Optimized if your machine has no problems with playback as is. As far as Proxy, that creates smaller clips for editing if you're working with 4k, 8k, etc. Also probably not an issue, but make sure your Viewer isn't set to "Proxy Only" under the View menu.
The newest clip linked on your page looks crazy compressed, that is definitely strange.
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Re newest clip - the one on my youtube or insta?
I actually the ‘share to youtube or facebook’ option earlier today and it looked quite good. Still not as crisp as i think it could be.
Cheers for the knowledge on importing and proxy etc. I’ll check that out when im next at my laptop.