Your encode is only as good as your source. DV isn’t the best source material to run through an encoder. Also the encoder itself is a big factor. Are you using Compressor?
Always remember, your encodes will never looks as good as the original source – especially to you, who put alot of work day after day into the piece. Encoding is the most important part in any project so it helps to learn as much as you can about about MPEG2, how encoding for DVD works and what encoding parameters work best for your project. Learn you encoder’s setting and what they do. What bitrate did you use?