Ummm tip for everyone.
Get MADE IN JAPAN discs. Most of the time, those are Taiyo Yudens, but I guess people here aren't exactly media freaks. Check out cdfreaks.com for more info..
BTW, run a scan with CD-DVD speed and check the quality. Also post a screenie if you can. If you can't just tell me the media code.
Compare these and you'll see what I mean
http://www.atotchat.org/~montavis/dmo/comp/3540-2.JPG - Taiyo Yuden discs from Fry's. They were branded as Sony discs, but they said Made in Japan so I picked them up. This is known as a very good scan. Not excellent, but very good
http://www.atotchat.org/~montavis/dmo/comp/3540.JPG - CMC Magnetics DVD-Rs, branded as Memorex. Memorex uses CMC discs. These were bought in Aug 2005. CMC used to be crap, but they're a little better now. That said, if you think Memorex = uber leet, no it's not. It's just decent. This is an AVERAGE SCAN.
http://www.atotchat.org/~montavis/dmo/comp/3540-3.JPG - FAKE Taiyo Yuden discs. While the media code is like a TY disc, look at the sheer # of errors. Clearly a fake. These were GQ discs @ Fry's for like $5 / spindle or whatever they sell them for. I never buy these and they were given to me by a friend.
My personal rule is to burn at 8x max, or 6x sometimes. EVEN if I'm dealing Taiyo Yuden discs that should burn at 16x fine.
Second.. get a quality burner Benq or NEC.