From the depths of the web...

"....A big shortcoming of older DVD players is their inability to read all CDR media (in common with many other mainstream DVD players). They do however seem able to handle some brands of CDR/W media.

This is because they only have one (650nm) laser pickup - excellent for DVDs & mastered CDs, but not so good for other discs. Some more expensive players get around this problem by including dual laser pickups - one for DVDs and the other for CDRs & CDRWs.

CDR media known to be compatible with this kind of player seem to use Phthalocyanine Type 8 dye, which has the highest reflectivity (closest to pressed CDs hence 'easier' to read). Don't however fall into the trap of thinking that a CDR that looks almost like a pressed CD will work, becuase the laser works in the infra-red range so the colour that it appears to us makes little difference.

CDR-Identifier is a free program capable of reading ATIP information stored on every CDR (this includes Dye type and also disc capacity) which might be helpful to determine if your discs will be DVD player friendly.

CDR BRANDS KNOWN TO WORK WITH SINGLE LAYER PLAYERS:
/ made by:
Addonics (Silver) / Princo
BTC / Princo
Memorex 4x CD-RW / ?
Mercury 4x CD-R/W / ?
Pine 74min CDR/ ?
Princo 74 & 80min discs / Princo Co.
Verbatim CDR-W 74min 650mb (DataLifePlus 4X Compatible)
Vivastar /Vivastar

note: NOT TDK,Traxdata,Samsung, Pine, Memorex

...Phthalocyanine Type 8 discs are really the only CDR compatible with the older single layer players. Princo are the sole manufactures of all discs of this composition (as far as I know), and they manufacture discs for other companies who package them under their own brand. UPDATE: VIVASTAR Cyanine (0) CDRs also seem work!

On the CDRW front, again, some brands work, others don't, although I think that there are more that work than don't. [I would test this more, but my CDRW drive is well and truly dead.]

It should also be noted that manufactures often have several different lines of CDRs discs, some being compatible, others not (Infiniti & BTC are prime examples).

Some manufactures change disc composition with little or no change in packaging, so you might find that older/newer discs form certain companies work. This sometimes happens when there is a high demand for discs that the company can't cope with, so it gets extra CDRs made in other factories that use different compositions. A similar situation happened with Medea Infiniti discs - the company tried a new manufacturer for their white CDRs. The selected manufacturer produced discs that were compatible with old players, but were unable to keep up with the demand from Medea, so they reverted to the previous manufacturer, hence Infiniti discs are no longer compatible with older players."

Hope you found it informative.