Video "jigsaw" artifacts appear when camera pans on burned DVDs

Question

I've been pulling my hair out for days as I export endless new sequences at different settings and then burn DVDs, only to find that the problem does not go away. The issue is the infamous "jigsaw" artifact effect, or whatever you want to call it, meaning that when viewing the resulting DVDs, when the camera pans, images "tear" and kind of spazz out. This seems most noticeable when panning past straight vertical objects, but is not limited to only this circumstance. My suspicion is that this is all the result of an interlacing issue in iDVD, but I have certainly learned that I am capable of overlooking the obvious or being wrong. What I don't understand is that with all of us out there working on Avids and using iDVD, either there does not seem to be a unified ideal export setting that resolves this issue, or I am having a comparatively unique problem. The shame is that most of the DVDs are looking great, and it is only this one issue that is sabotaging completion of this project. I'm at my wits end, so any and all knowledgeable help is supremely appreciated. Help me keep my hair.
When viewing any of these exported clips within quicktime player, the jigsaw is not visible. But when viewing the burned DVDs on my Mac, the jigsaw is visible.
When viewing the burned DVDs on my Panasonic HDTV (TH-42PX75U) the jigsaw is visible. When viewing the burned DVDs on my Sony Trinitron Production monitor (non HD), the jigsaw is visible.
Avid Software: Avid Xpress DV 3.5.0
Editing system info: Mac G4 "Mirror door" model - Dual 1.2 Ghz PowerPC - memory 1024 MB
OS Software on Editing System - OS X version 10.2.3
Quicktime version on Editing system: QT version 6.3
Software used to burn DVDs: Idvd 8 version 7.0.1
Computer used to burn DVDs: MacBookPro3,1 - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz (codec downloaded from Avid and installed - prior post about video not displayed in QT exports was due to missing codec)
Quicktime version on Computer used to burn DVDs - QT Version 7.4 (92) (with Pro upgrade)
DVD media used: TDK DVD-R 8X 4.7GB
Info on sequence I am burning - A 1 hour and 50 minute program of African wildlife footage all shot on regular mini DV tapes. Camera used was the Panasonic AGDVX100A on the 24 frame setting that does not require a software fix (the correction is done in camera). All the footage was digitized using this camera. When viewing any of these exports afterward within quicktime player, the "jigsaw" is not visible. It only becomes visible after burning them and then watching the dvd. All burns in iDVD 8 are using the "professional" burn mode.
Export settings from Avid and iDVD 8 result summary -
1) Exported at "same as source" from Avid yields arguably the absolute worst result, as I rather suspected with the whole field / interlacing issue, but I was feeling hopeful.
2) Trying to bypass Quicktime by using "dvstream" as the export setting also yields a very poor result. This jigsaw problem does not occur, but the resulting image is terrible. Very milky blacks, the compression is worse, as in much more noticeable, than any other export, and the image is soft and thin looking, rather anemic, and it ruins the visuals completely. What is a bit odd to me however is that I had been using dvstream to burn DVDs of other projects for years on prior versions of iDVD and it never seemed to be a problem. As I tried this one first, without having the Avid codec installed in my MacBook (which I use to burn as I can run iDVD8 on it, also meaning that trying quicktime reference is not an option, I must export, then move the completed export to my macbook pro), I am currently exporting it one more time to see if installation of the codec fixes the horrible compression and color result, but I am not hopeful at all.
3) Tried using an Avid forum suggestion that recommended using 720 X 480 - crop/pad - RGB color levels - even (lower field first) - native dimension 720 x 480. No good.
4) Another Avid forum suggestion to try the "Animation" setting for video
instead of "Avid DV" is not a viable option. The infamous "2 GB limit" message
comes up as the export nears completion and aborts. This message does not appear
with any other export setting. When cutting my sequence in half, the same problem occurs. Even if I could get it to work, the result would be useless if it meant I had to send people several DVDs of the program chopped up into little bits.
5) Heres a summary of other export attempts all using Quicktime movie and "Avid DV" for video, keeping in mind the info I read about how at least one version of iDVD had the field order (ntsc vs pal)reversed a while back. I would expect that Apple has fixed this problem by now, but just in case...
a) odd field - 720 x 486 - 601 - crop/pad - 4:3 Non-square
b) odd field - 720 x 480 - 601 - crop/pad - 4:3 Non-square
c) even field - 720 x 486 - 601 - crop/pad - 4:3 Non-square
d) even field - 720 x 480 - - 601 - crop/pad - 4:3 Non-square
Suggestions to buy a different dvd burning program or new software are nice and all, but I simply cannot afford it. I also have a fear that if I were to try a different program that the same darn thing would happen, as no one seems to be able to say with 100% certainty that this specific problem would be fixed. The only thing that would be worse than my sense of hopelessness and helplessness at present would be spending more money and still not having this maddening issue be resolved.
Help... and thanks to any of you who take the time to read this epic length post and reply!

Answer 1

PROBLEM SOLVED! Thanks to having downloaded Toast 8, the dreaded interlacing has disappeared. The first test made me nervous. I exported from Avid using Sorenson and using the "automatic" settings for Toast's detection of fields etc. The DVD still had the jigsaw at the same spots, but it was not as pronounced as some of the tests with iDVD. I then exported "same as source" and used the advanced settings in Toast to tell it "lower field" and maxed the compression settings as much as I could without exceeding disc space. The DVD result is the best looking I've seen so far and all interlacing artifacts are gone! Thanks to Blackdog at the Avid Forum. I now know this interlacing problem was 100% the fault of iDVD 8 and will be using Toast from now on.