I have considered working with the PAL footage myself. It’s an easy solution to the 29.97 / 23.976 fps problem, and while the quality is intrinsically lower than the NTSC version, the difference looks minimal in Season 6. (I have S6 in PAL at the moment, but only S6).
The AviSynth script I call Rio Grande – the one based around QTGMC – runs well against PAL source as well, if you care to try it.
A big and happy welcome to you, Sir. Thank you for joining us.
I am picking up my new PAL-Sets of DS9 and Voyager and will start working on them asap and try your suggestions.