dvd works in one dvd player, but not another

[bhales]

I have a large screen TV and created my video at 16:9 display aspect ratio. It works fine on that TV. I decided to create another at 4:3 to send to a friend. I created it. It will work on my large screen TV, but will not work on the DVD players attached to two other TVs. The DVD appears not to be readable by these DVD players. Can someone point me in the right direction? Is it likely to be the brand of DVD, the DVD players, or some option I haven't set correctly. I used highlest level of quality and the following options when creating the DVD:

MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

[sjj1805]

Popular question.
The answer is do not burn higher than 4x no matter what your DVD burner or discs are capable of.

[THoff]

That's certainly part of the answer, and why the ever-increasing DVD burn rates (currently 18x, I believe) are virtually useless.

But don't overlook the possibility that the DVD players don't like the type or brand of media you used. Head on over to VideoHelp.com and check out the media compatibility database to see if the DVD player models in question have any media limitations.

[Ken Berry]

...and if the other DVD players are more expensive brand names, you need to be aware that those types of players are also the most finicky about playing a wide variety of DVDs (let alone VCDs or SVCDs): either they won't play home made discs, or will play them erratically, stopping and starting or continuing to play but jerkily. Could be the brand of disc, the type of disc ( + or - or RW), the fact that it is home burned instead of factory pressed, or the burn speed -- or a combination of any or all of these. The cheaper Chinese models seem to play just about anything.