Don't know if this is the fault of your DVD-recorder Russ or if it's only in your compressed avi, but the whites are quite severely clipped. But some of the detail lost in the highlights can be restored, a few examples using avisynth:

Levels(0,1,255,0,235,false)

top: original avi below: corrected

This may be old news to you Jonno, but I just thought I would point it out just in case. I know that some DVD-recorders had the bad habit of capture video either too bright or too dark.