help with dvds

ok... so I'm trying to use iDVD to make a DVD (with a movie file on it) that will run in a normal DVD player.

this usually works easily, but for some reason I'm getting a "there was an error with the menu/animations" each time I try to burn. I have no idea what that's referring to. I tried removing all moving objects/audio from the menu, still get the same error.

iDVD's help program says that any movie file that is quicktime supported should work fine in iDVD. I took an avi, converted it with DIVXDoctor to mov, then that mov runs in quicktime, fine...

so what's the problem?

anyone have any other suggestions for dvd-making-programs and/or conversion programs I should try? Or can you help me get iDVD to work?

*frustrated*