Really poor quality final DVD output

Hi there,
I am about to pull my hair out because I am so frustrated. I hope someone can help.
The goal:
-Trying to make a DVD of family videos using premiere elements. Basically I'm just taking the long videos we shot, editing them down to a reasonable time, then putting them in chronological order w/ a simple title. Very simple stuff.
The problem:
-I have successfully made a DVD of our 2010 family videos, but the quality is HORRIBLE when played back on the DVD player.
Important background information:
-We have a mac (Mac OS X 10.6.8; processor 3.06 Ghz Intel Core i3; memory 4GB)
-I have adobe premiere elements 10
-The videos were shot from a Sony DVD 850 standard definition camera. Originally (as in 3 years ago), I wanted to use iMovie to make a DVD. Found out that because the video camera had muxed format and everything was interlaced, that the mac did not like it. Basically just upon import or when importing to imovie, there was video footage with no audio. After hours of phone support w/ apple, I was instructed to convert the files to a different format (I did this 3 years ago, at this point I have no idea what or how I did this other than I used an application I had to download). This was successful and I was able to upload to imovie, but I hated doing this conversion process as it took too long. Also the quality of the video wasn't so great (probably b/c of all of the conversion going on).
-So I purchased premiere elements and organizer to hopefully skip that need for conversion.
-At some point in the last 3 years I uploaded the files to premiere elements organizer (whatever format they were in at that point - I believe I was dumb enough to convert the originals but not sure, the mac is such a mess right now I have no idea what files are original vs not)
-Last week started making the DVD in premiere elements.
-Have tried burning AVCHD 1080i 30 - then burning to Dolby DVD (this seems to be the best quality)
-Have tried burning NTSC DV Standard - then burning to Dolby DVD
-Have tried burning AVCHD 1080i 30 - then burning to widescreen
-Have tried burning NTSC DV Standard - then burning to widescreen
The Problem:
-the quality of the video is very very poor. I can see "lines" running horizontally across the picture that kind of bounce around, esp. bouncing when there is any sound. It is so bad it looks worse than my parents old VHS tapes.
-The menus are hard to read (only readable w/ the Dolby DVD format when burning) and then the titles for each segment of movie are very very blurry.
-I've tried to render - it is taking forever (like 2 days) and stops a lot. Not sure what is going on there?
What I need:
-any suggestions
-what am I doing wrong?
-how to I find the original files if they even exist?
-what should I do at this point to try to get the best quality?
(We bought a new camera 1.5 years ago - a Canon that is HD and will work much better w/ the software - but I still need to save these 2 years worth of videos!

Tarheelmommy,
Welcome to the forum.
Unfortunately, you have posted to the Premiere Elements Tips & Tricks sub-forum, which is basically a repository for articles on how to do things in Premiere. Few ever even drop by. I will Move your post out to the main Premiere Elements Forum, where you will get quick assistance, and many more "eyes," than back here.
Thank for a compresensive post too, one with a lot of useful detail. There might be a few more questions that get asked, but we could use your post as an example of how to ask a question.
Good luck,
Hunt
[Moved to Premiere Elements Forum]

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