Steve,
Let's back up a few steps and reboot here. You have given three different starting resolutions for your material - 1280x768, 1290x768, and 1024x768, apparently the latter being correct, right? You stated that you wanted the video to be a 4:3 aspect ratio, but then you said you exported as 1920x1080, which is of course 16:9 widescreen, AND you are "upconverting" the footage then, which would result in quality loss. Then there is the 25fps (PAL) versus the NTSC export setting.
So let me ask, what country are you located in? What frame rate did you use the original editing sequence in Premiere, and can you post a shot of the Project Settings? This is getting very convoluted.
Thank you
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers