I have had a DELL Latitude D820 for a month now with a SDVD8820. I have burned DVD's and CD's.
I found issues with CD errors. I selected a slower speed 20x even though the CD's were rated at 52x and the drive is 24x rated. After messing around more, setting the software to the drive rated max write speed seemed to solve the CD write issue.
Now for DVD's. I have generated a bunch of coasters. I use generic and store brand. The 4x seem to work 100%. The 8x, depending on brand vary. I set the burn speed to 6x for the 8x media. This seemed to improve things. I still get a coaster once in a while, but not 50% of the time.
I would not use "MAX" write speed settings, set to something below the media speed.
Unfortunetly, the software coming with the Dell "Sonic Record Now" does not have a write speed setting, so I have to use other software.
As far as playing, I get more glitches (clean media) on my old Apex player (6 years) and little or none on my 3 year old Apex player. They play best on the Dell D820. I think I had one disk readable from the laptop but not from the DVD players. But, thinking back, it may have used the just burned image.
Anyway, just try slowing down, don't use MAX. And buy cheap media, then the coaster don't hurt so much. Your just wasting more time.
Oh, and I have burned DVD-R and maybe DVD+R (don't have any with me to see). The CD's were -R and not sure about the others.