well, if you want to see what dvcam looks like export a DV pal file from afx, it isn't very pretty.
i'm not sure how you're encoding your dvd's but you can probably up the bit rate to 7 or 8 Mbps to improve quality, you have to keep under 9Mbps or dvd players bug out (this includes audio).
For archiving or transfers your only options are 1) big drives and uncompressed footage 2) saving the project and it's source and re-rendering or 3) digi beta. (ok so technically it's compressed but it's the best there is). 1)is moderately expensive, and drives have a habit of dying, 2) is a pain 3)is horrendously expensive.