I download quite a few movies that, when I try to burn as DVDs or even VCDs, programs like TPMGEnc and Nero can't encode. The other age old problem is that your average movie is always too long for a standard disk, so I have to split the file, or try to compress it. Both of these options are largely unsatisfactory.
So during my searches, I came across the Allok AVI DivX MPEG to DVD Converter.
http://www.alloksoft.com/avi_divx_mpeg_dvd_converter.htmIt has a free trial version which, unfortunately features a watermark [the company website] so large as to make the finished DVD unwatchable in a normal sense, but you can still see that its worked properly with no visible loss of quality. However, the purchased full version, which I'm about to buy, does away with the watermark..
I've found it converts any file I've tried to DVD with a one button push. A movie fits on a single disk. In fact, the program claims it can fit up to 7 hours per DVD. I haven't tried that yet, but will experiment. I've converted our home video files to DVD with equal success. These were all in Windows or MPEG format. It probably takes as long to do a full conversion as it would to play the original file, so its perfect to set up and walk away.
The cost in AUD is $36, I'd guess $30US.
My other good purchase was an external hard drive to store movies and other files. A good acquisition if you'd like to bring your stuff home from, or to, China.