Can someone help me convert video files so I can burn them to play on my dvd player

[fresh2death]

I super new to this so please bare with me. I was on this site yesterday cause google was no help at all. I'm trying to burn my video files on to my dvd+R disc. Naturally I(being the novice that I am)tried the direct approach but it didn't work. So I did some research and found out that i needed to convert the files. This where you guys came in on one of the forums some1 suggested to get to get dvd santa(free trial) so i did. I followed the directions i think to the tee. It converted the files but it wouldn't burn after it was done. It wasn't reading that i had a dvd+r in burner. so i found the temp files and burned them using my roxio dvd creator suome worked others didn't. I also wanted them in a compilation form I have windows vista if that helps please any help would be great.