Hi Steve,
So it appears that the source video is 1920x1080, right? What resolution was the PS menu created at? DVD is always 720x480, so if you are comparing an HD source menu (and source video) to the resulting DVD, it is never going to match due to far less resolution, HD vs. SD.
There is no reason to export from Premiere as anything other than "MPEG-2 for DVD" when working towards a DVD. Exporting to other codecs is just taking additional time and adding more compression to the workflow. Anything going into Encore that is not 720x480 MPEG-2 for DVD will be transcoded again In Encore anyway.
Can you provide a screen grab of the AME Export settings, if you had at some point exported to "MPEG-2 for DVD". Not interested in seeing H.264 or QuickTime settings, as they do not apply to the workflow.
Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers