And I am doing a SD DVD, not Bluray.
To be clear, my question about downrezzing is because users using HD material and downrezzing to make a DVD are more likely to have dynamic link issues. Which is answer one to you next question...
Can you tell me why skipping DL is a preference?
Reason #1 above. Some users have alternate workflows where they use third party tools for exporting. Encore/Premiere has not been the best tool for getting good quality. It has improved. How much, and whether it works for a particular purpose is a matter of opinion.