I encoded a 5 min edited 1920x1080 CFHD (originally shot in AVCHD) to BR h.264, imported to Encore, exported as BR ISO Image, imported to ImgBurn, burned to DVD-R. Workflow was no different in any way than using BR mpeg2.
Playback on Sony BDP-S300 to HDTV exhibited excellent image quality. My impression, comparing the same program as BR mpeg2 on DVD-R, was that the h.264 looks better- better color, better image detail. The mpeg2 looks very good anyway, so the comparison is difficult for me and certainly quite subjective, but my impression was strong enough that I think I will use h.264 for future BR projects.
I had the same problem with data rate as I did with mpeg2. Encoding VBR 20 mbs (25 mbs max), I got playback stutter intermittantly, and intermittant audio dropout. At VBR 18 mbs (23mbs max), playback was perfect. It's as if the red laser in this player can't keep up when the rate gets past 23mbs. I'd be interested if anyone else has had this problem, or if it's related to something in my workflow.
I am still astonished that this final image quality from footage shot with a tiny Sony SR12 consumer cam seems entirely as good as what I had been getting from much bigger 3 chip HDV cams.
Amazing!

Bob,

Thanks. I assume you used Adobe Media Encoder to encode the H.264 instead of Encore (although supposedly they both use the Main Concept Encoder), which gives you a little more control over the encoding. Encore just gives me 15, 20, etc.

John

Yes, I used AME.
It seems a bit more flexible, plus I can compress straight off of the timeline.