Looking For A New Alternative To Convert AVI To DVD

Hi all, first and foremost great forum. Very informative. Well up to now I've been using ConvertXtoDVD to convert my avi files into DVD format. But I've noticed that on all of my DVD conversions/burns there is always some sort of pixelation/artifacting, mostly in the particularly dark scenes. Scenes that show the night sky, dark walls, heavy shadows, solid colored walls, etc. I know that once I convert an AVI file into DVD format the quality will be worse than that of the original AVI file, but the artifacting/pixelation that occurs is somewhat unbearable and is very noticeable. I make sure to always use a high quality AVI video source, I'll get my hands on "dvd-rips" for example, and the quality will be severely worsened once burnt to DVD. Particulary the dark scenes, as explained above. There'll be little multi-colored blocks, pixelation, artifacting, etc.

So I'm now looking for an alternative. I'm a newby and I've only tried a handful of programs (ConvertXtoDVD and WinAVI to be precise) and I'm looking for a new alternative. It doesn't have to be an "all-in-one" solution like ConvertXtoDVD and WinAVI are. I don't mind using multiple programs in order to get the best quality possible. But keep in mind I am a newby. Thanks for any and all help, I appreciate it.