Have you thought about an RF converter? This device (about $20 at Rat shack) converts the composite video source into an RF signal, which can be paired up with a regular wall cable box, and you can play DVDs as if they were regular cable, thereby by-passing the vcr part (ostensibly).
Granted, this comes with drawbacks of its own. Namely, you're downconverting the DVD to cable quality, and there can be some serious interference issues if the cable run between the DVD player and the RF converter box is too long. (Seriously, that's not cable snake oil crap - it happened to me - my cable run was too long, so I had to coil it back on itself, and I got weird ghosting and fuzzy images and poor color. ONce I cut the cord, things got much, much better).
Shortcomings aside - the signal that gets passed from the DVD to the TV through the RF converter is still reasonably good. It is better than normal cable and will be better than VHS. Considering that the TV is the limiting factor in this equation, you probably won't even notice the difference between the RF and the composite signals.
Anyway - give it a try, it may fix the macrophasing.
