Help me burn a DVD that plays on Samsung's HT-D6500 Player

[misce]

Hi!

Trying to make a DVD for a relative out of state, who has the HT-D6500 model of Samsung's BD Player. This DVD is an absolute surprise, for their birthday (when I say "absolute surprise" - I mean they aren't even expecting a "Happy birthday!" from me), so I only have one shot with this DVD or the surprise factor is ruined.

I have gone through almost two handfuls of video converters, trying to maximize the size of the file (best quality?) while still fitting on a single DVD5. I've managed to create a 4.26GB .mkv file - which is only a hundred or so MB less than the limit... so I figure this is the best it gets. I remember the player being able to play .mkv files, which is why I chose that route. HOWEVER, upon re-inspection, there's now an issue of "video codecs."

And now comes the problem. As said, I've toyed with many, many different video converters recently, and found Any Video Converter Pro to be the best (which is what the 4.26GB .mkv is made with). However, the video codecs listed in AVCP and the online user manual for the DVD player do not sync up perfectly. So I'm confused over which video codec to use - thus I am here.

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HT-D6500 user manual: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201202/20120202153704900/HT-D6500W_XAA_web_1226.pdf (supported file formats on Page 12)
Video codecs available to choose from in AVCP: https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/WOpPn.png

Through wikipedia'ing just now, I've figured xvid is not the same as DivX and x264 is not the same as H.264. However, xvid uses the MPEG4 ASP "compression format" and x264 uses H.264's (but no MP/BP/HP?), so the xvid video codec should work but the x264 one... either should or shouldn't (does the DVD player support only H.264 MP, or H.264 BP, or H.264 MP... or is there such a thing as just H.264, which the player supports, which AVCP's x264 codec uses?)?

The already-made 4.26GB .mkv was made in the .mkv container, with the xvid video codec. In AVCP, it identifies the "Format" as "MP4V" (MPEG4 Video?) (see: https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/dhUpN.png). Is this a MPEG4 ASP codec? So, this file will work on their DVD player?

[hech54]

What is the source?
It might be easier just to create a regular DVD vs. some sort of DATA disc.

[jman98]

NOBODY here can give you a 100% guarantee. Sorry, but that's reality. What you made SHOULD work. However, it is always possible to create video files with encoding options that standalone players don't support. You might install MediaInfo and post a screen shot of what you made. We could look for anything unusual that might be a problem. Also, there are other variables such as 4.26 GB may be too big for a single MKV file on this player. Or it may be fine at that size. Finally, if you buy your media in stores there is a 99% chance you bought low quality garbage. This player may not like your media very much. For the best chance of success use either Taiyo Yuden (must buy online) or Verbatim discs (anything EXCEPT their "Life" series - it can be tough to find non-Life Verbatims in stores though). I recommend using DVD+R media as the official document seems to subtly indicate a preference for +R over -R with this player although -R should work.

[yoda313]

If you want 100% success why not upload it to youtube and send them the link?

You can set it to private so its not open to the world to see.

As long as you have at least a dsl connection it shouldn't take too long to upload the file.

That way as long as your recipient has a broadband connection and a laptop or computer to view it they will definitely be able to see it. There is also a chance that is a smart bluray player that has a youtube portal on it.

Otherwise I agree with the other posters that you can't get a 100% guarantee.

You could send them as a divx/xvid file on a usb stick and ensure its no more than 2gb and standard definition to give it the best chance to play on that player - assuming it plays divx files of course. You want to make it as likely as possible to play - and it needs to read files from a usb device. Make sure it can read - if its fat32 it should be just fine, ntfs probably not.

But as I mentioned uploading to youtube will ensure they can watch it without compatibility issues.

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Or you could send the mkv and also convert it to dvd proper and send two discs. Use avstodvd to create a real dvd out of it.

But follow jman98's suggestion and use good blank discs to help reduce those potential errors.

[misce]

Thanks for all of the replies.

100% guarantee, not possible - got it. I downloaded MediaInfo, and as far as I can tell myself, everything checks out. I'm willing to just risk it at this point, no need to bother examining my screenshot.

But, before I am able to lay this to rest, one more question:
In the manual, it says "Restriction: AV sources that exceed the standard bit rate ... may not play properly." I searched the document and found only one other video-related mention of bit rate, on Page 60-something, which said "Video files with high bit rates of 20Mbps or more [may not work properly]."

If MediaInfo said the following:
Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 4 124 Kbps

... in HTML view, under the "General" section (there's no bit rate under the video section, but is for audio? (this is what confuses me)) - this is what I'm looking for when looking for the 20Mbps limit, right? (so this should work as it's under 20Mbps)

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(Brand of DVD's: I was given some to use, and since at this point I'm just willing to risk failure, I'm going to use the ones I have - and if they don't work... oh well, they'll undoubtedly appreciate the thought more than the video anyway so I'm good.)