Any video/dvd experts?

a DVD does not handle 1080, max 720x480/576 depending on NTSC/PAL

a DVD can handle max 4.7 gb

but: a good authoring program re-encodes the file in size and maximum quality to fit exactly on one DVD

edit: the file is also re-encoded into MPEG2 since that is the native codec for DVDs - at a bitrate of max 8000 kbit/s

and therefore inferior in quality by nature

edit 2: you need to burn a blu ray if you want to keep the quality

yeah the other problem is the hotel they want to play the video in doesnt support bluray

then you're stuck with less quality

(or bring a USB stick)

Author it and burn it to a Bluray, that or a USB player is your only option. HD and DVD don't go hand in hand.

Buy at $35 Bluray player and take it with you to the hotel.

are they trying to slam that 5 gig file directly onto the DVD or are they authoring the content first?

Its an aoutside shot but find out if the hotel player can play H.264 in any container. If it can thats your answer....some DVD players will play H.264/MP4

It is possible to encode a DVD at 9 Mbits, at least on my Adobe Premiere program.

Which is the same as the pseudo HD broadcast TV uses.

DVD may not be as good as a Blu Ray but it is still very good quality and will look fine on TVs.

DVD are more reliable and less easily damaged.

Resolution is important and the bigger the better BUT it is only one of dozens of factors that effect image quality.

Modern DVDs of feature films that don't make it to Blu Ray look great upscaled and projected on to a 2.5 m x 2 m screen. Not as good as Blu Ray but if people comment about the resolution it means the content was so bad that is the only thing they saw. The reason they look good is that they are shot well.

I showed my niece an old Chaplin DVD of a film shot in 1919 on orthochromatic film with hand cranked cameras. She enjoyed it and did not comment that it was not HD or in colour...the story took her.