HDV to SD in FCP 6

I've been disappointed in the quality of HDV down converted to SD in FCP 6. After editing my HDV project I copied all of the clips into an SD timeline, DV 720 x 480. FCP automatically scaled the clips to fit in letterbox. It also added a Field Shift +1 to each clip in the sequence. Theoretically all I need to do now is render and output to tape or DVD. Two issues occurred: First the video looked terrible on my NTSC Monitor. Edges of objects looked pixilated and aliased. Second I had a few slow motion effects via the effects tab that after render stuttered as if the field dominance was incorrect. I also tried the clips in an uncompressed 8-bit and Pro Res 422 timelines with the same results. Finally I wound up exporting the HDV timeline to a movie and then using Compressor to transcode to DV, Letterbox. The results were far superior and the slow motion was smooth, but it's a cumbersome work around. Any thoughts?
By the way I got the same results from footage acquired on two HDV cameras, HVRV1U and XL-H2 in 30i mode. I have uploaded four comparative stills. The odd numbered are exported from the original HDV applied to an SD timeline. The even numbered clips were processed in Compressor. Notice the edges on the talent in both pictures. Thanks.
http://www.leebergermedia.com/images/downres01.png
http://www.leebergermedia.com/images/downres02.png
http://www.leebergermedia.com/images/downres03.png
http://www.leebergermedia.com/images/downres04.png

Thanks John. That's an interesting post, but I'm already processing in Compressor for scaling and letterbox from the original HDV material with great results. What I really want to do is be able to output directly from the SD timeline with HDV clips scaled and letterboxed, avoiding the trip to Compressor. I think it's an issue with scaling in FCP that is not up to par with Compressor. It seems to me that Apple's claims about mixing resolutions may be a bit over stated at this time. At that is the result I'm getting.

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