Re: benefits of constant bit rate versus variable?

" Can you or anyone say whether CBR is also preferable because it has a contant bit rate and is less likely to choke a marginal player because the bit rate is all over the place with VBR, particularly a VBR where minimum and maximum rates are acres apart? "

This is how I think..but many will argue it. My worry lies in the bitrate spikes that ALL encoders can produce putting you over the spec limit. You can put about 90 mins of MPEG on a DVD-5 with a CBR rate of 6mb/s. It just sound logical to me to provide a nice "clean" constant bit when its available.