Since there isn't much information about rewritable DVD media on PS2, and information is a bit contradictory (some claiming you can't, some claiming you can) I decided to give it a try and post my results.
So, can you play PS2 games using rewritable DVD media?
Short answer: yes, but you need to patch them with ESR, a modchip alone won't work.
Long answer:
From what I can tell reading online, PS2 added support for DVD RW media starting with SCPH-5000X. However (as it's expected) the mechacon only verifies these discs if they contain DVD-VIDEO, which is the case for all media that isn't DVD-ROM. Modchips don't have patches to allow playback of DVD RW (they only patch the mechacon for DVD+-R), so they will just appear as unsupported discs. However as you may know you can patch them with ESR to fool the mechacon into thinking it's a DVD-VIDEO and correctly allow for its playback.
I have tested this with three very different models (SCPH-5000X, SCPH-7700X and SCPH-9000X), with and without modchip, and they all play the discs just fine, no stuttering or read errors and the laser doesn't seem to wear out (it shouldn't, as the mechacon will correctly configure the laser for DVD RW playback), as long as the discs themselves are not scratched, there should be no issue. The brand I used for testing is Verbatim, both DVD-RW and DVD+RW as well as mini-DVD (1.4GB).
Hope this helps some people that are tempted to buy DVD RW for their PS2.
So, can you play PS2 games using rewritable DVD media?
Short answer: yes, but you need to patch them with ESR, a modchip alone won't work.
Long answer:
From what I can tell reading online, PS2 added support for DVD RW media starting with SCPH-5000X. However (as it's expected) the mechacon only verifies these discs if they contain DVD-VIDEO, which is the case for all media that isn't DVD-ROM. Modchips don't have patches to allow playback of DVD RW (they only patch the mechacon for DVD+-R), so they will just appear as unsupported discs. However as you may know you can patch them with ESR to fool the mechacon into thinking it's a DVD-VIDEO and correctly allow for its playback.
I have tested this with three very different models (SCPH-5000X, SCPH-7700X and SCPH-9000X), with and without modchip, and they all play the discs just fine, no stuttering or read errors and the laser doesn't seem to wear out (it shouldn't, as the mechacon will correctly configure the laser for DVD RW playback), as long as the discs themselves are not scratched, there should be no issue. The brand I used for testing is Verbatim, both DVD-RW and DVD+RW as well as mini-DVD (1.4GB).
Hope this helps some people that are tempted to buy DVD RW for their PS2.