Interesting, Ian. i route my VCR the same way as yve described for your freeview but I get a better result with freeview going :
Freeview SD RGB output > JS Tech RGB to SVid converter > display at 1366x768

G98, HD621, 568.25, 558.2, 559, B&W 803Ds, HTM2D, 4xSCM1, ASW850, Pioneer PDLX5090 50" Plasma, Cables by Atlas and Chord