How can I write mpeg-4 movies to DVD for playing on a DVD player

I'm assuming you just burned the mp4 file to the dvd. This is okay for playback on a computer but not for a standard dvd player. Check out DVD Creator at the App Store or Burn from Sourceforge.

I have a Philips TV-style DVD player and it will play a very limited set of "computer" format files from optical media or via the USB port. It's primarily set up for DIVX codec support but will play back XVID video codec. My model does not support newer h264 video. It will play both mp3 and AAC audio codecs. It will accept mp4 and avi packaging. Maybe more -- this is just as far as I have tested it.

Given the large number of combinations of audio and video codecs, and encapsulating formats, you will have to experiment with formats until you find some that work. Also you'd have to check on a Philips player web site for information on which codecs are suported on which players (you don't say your exact model). All this is kind of outside the Apple support forum area of expertise.

DavidGCo wrote:

Yes I just burned the mp4 to the dvd

Either get a DVD player which supports MP4, or burn it as DVD-Video. Or skip the DVD step altogether—replace the DVD player with media player.