This is my setup and what worked for me. Most of this I got from this site and a little patience. That's why it's a good thing to have a DVD+RW, not DVD+R or -R as it would cost a fortune to experiment.

HP DVD100i - $399 @ BestBuy
Verbatim DVD+RW $24.99 3-Pack @ BestBuy
SmartRipper - Free
Nero 5.5.8.0 - Free Download trial ware or about $60 online anywhere
APEX AD800 DVD player - $119 + $5 for ext. warranty @ Sam's Club
All told, the cost to copy a DVD is about $11. $3 for the rental and ~$8 for the blank DVD+RW media – of course, that’s after you’ve burned about 50 DVDs to pay for the cost of the DVD burner and DVD player that plays the DVDs!!!!

1) Rip DVD with SmartRipper. Look up how to use SmartRipper first. It's easy - I did it, so can you. You need to make sure you have the video_ts.vob files in order for Nero to work. I believe these are the copyright screens that you see at the beginning of movies but without them, you'll get a "failed to re-allocate files" message in Nero.

2) Open Nero and select DVD-Video. This creates the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders off of the root of the DVD.

3) Locate the ripped files from the DVD from Step 1 using Nero's Explorer window. Drag and Drop these .vob, .ifo, .bup files to the VIDEO_TS folder. I kept all the default setting settings with the exception of using MODE 2 ISO 9660 burning

4) Start Burn. You should get a message saying that the re-allocation of files was successful.

When the burn is finished, in about 30 minutes for a 4.3GB movie, it should play in your stand-alone DVD Player. If the total size for the .vob files is greater than 4.3GB when you drag and drop them into Nero, the DVD may not play. Also, NONE of the DVDs I've made play in my Toshiba SD3205 but they ALL play in my APEX AD800. My friends can play them in their Pioneer and Sony units but not their JVC units. Also the DVDs I’ve burnt do not play in my Creative Labs 12x DVD player for my desktop or in my Compaq Armada M700 DVD drive.

Like I said at the beginning, this is what worked for me. It may or may not work for you but I’d thought I’d let you folks know.

Good luck.