Another vote for Taiyo Yudens. Fuji's often go on sale, pick out the Made in Japan. And you can get unbranded spindles of TY's at rima.com for a nice price (other places too, but I know that one).
As a rule, avoid Made in Taiwan, because the dyes aren't going to last as long, even if you get a good burn. Verbatim is an exception, because they own their own plants. I believe there is/are at least one other exception(s), where a company will contract their excellent dye formula out to a Taiwanese manufacturer, but I haven't researched which discs those are. Maybe I'll research that, now... nah, too busy.
If you had chosen to stick with your old burner, it would definitelly have needed a newer firmware, and that might not have been enough.
Thankfully, burners are relatively cheap, these days. I can recommend BenQ/Phillips as excelllent burners, and most/all of them will test for PI/PO errors, like auximenies's Plextor does. (Most LiteOn's will too, but they generally make mediocre or variable-quality burns. OTOH, they are excellent readers/rippers, for those crapped out discs you might get in trade. And they're often upgradable as all hell. You can often get 'em cheap and use them just for reading). I think most Plextors test PI/PO. And I haven't looked into the other brands.
It's great to get a burner that will test PI/PO, worth looking into before you buy. (Nero's CD Speed tests PI/PO if the burner is capable, Plextools are specificlly for Plextor, KProbe for LiteOn...). Check out CD Freaks Burner forums for some impressively informed opinions on burners, discs...
And you'll find information on how to upgrade firmware, or go back to an older firmware if the new one is junk. And you'll often find about tools to get more options/performance out of your drive than the manufacturer/re-brander might have bothered/decided to give you.