DVD Encoding Question

Hi;

Sorry if this is a very basic question but here goes. A few years ago when I started authoring discs for companies the advice I got was to not encode above 5.5 mbs/sec because many DVD players were having trouble handling anything above that. This advice came from some major businesses in the field so it was not just a random choice. But that was then and I have lost those contacts.

Now I'd like to ask "has the technical outlook for players changed enough that we can safely obtain better quality in standard DVD by now using a higher birate?".

I'd be very interested to know what people are using out there as their standard.

Thanks;

Dan