Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim are the top choices. Ritek, Fuji or anything made in Japan is also good media. Stand clear of Memorex or anything made by CMC Magnetics. This is very poor media.
Don't burn at fast speeds either. Try burning only at 4x. This will greatly reduce the number of errors you recieve when burning.
check out best buy, this week they have the 50 pack of fuji (look for the MIJ = made in japan, some sat taiwan, but they code out as ritek 03) which is good media too. anyway, 50 pack for $17.99 and the verbatim 25 pack for $9.99 with instant 10 dollar savings (reg. price 20 bucks).. both are excellent media and well priced. they have sales every other week and in both formats + or -
hope this sheds some light on which is good media.
also, you can order online from the super media store.
http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-dvd-plus-r-media.html thats the TY's, check the link, they have a massive selection, and quality media. stick with verbs and taiyo yuden and you can't go wrong. also, in the + format, you have the ability to booktype the + format to dvd-rom for more compatibility with older stand alone dvd players.
Thanks for the advice, I'll bear it in mind, but what I really meant to ask was for a good make of DVD-Recorder.
I have a Sony DVD Player but I want a DVD-Recorder and I'm told that Sony DVD's do not play on all types of DVD players. so I'm looking at another type that will be more compatable with both my Sony DVD player and my MadDog external DVD-Rom device so I can play the discs and take screen caps.
i am not sure i read this correctly. do you want a stand alone dvd player/recorder, or do you want a dvd player that will pretty much read everything you throw at it? because it seems like your burner in the pc is fine and you can use that to make dvds to play in the player. with a video card you can run movies and shows thru it there and burn to disk later, even 'data' format. i have an LG LDA-511 and it is very good, plays all i throw at it with no problems. i have the previous model, the LGDVB-418 and i had lots of problems with it, i returned it for the 511 and all is well.