Even Verbatims can fail. I've sworn by Verbatims since the beginning of the CD-R burning days, but I picked up a 100 pack of the "value" Verbatim DVD-Rs last week... I had about 15 Verbatim -R's from a previous spindle, and the new "value" ones are considerably darker. The "label" etching on the front is identical but the dye is different and the serial numbers around the hub are considerably different, obviously different manufacturers. I've gotten read/write errors in DVDFab and the DVD player hits all kinds of freeze points during the few movies I "backed up" with the new discs. The old ones still work fine, and I burn all Wii and movies at 2x-4x, Data and other ISOs at 8-16x. Wound up returning the 100-pack for a 50-pack of Verbatim +R's, will see how they go. I'll still buy other Verbatims besides the current run of 100 pack -R's for awhile, as they're still more trustworthy than most cheap brands.
Burner is a NEC ND-3550, iirc, not the best but has been mostly reliable for a few years now. I'll agree that a combo of a good burner and good media makes the difference and I personally think that burn speed DOES matter.
"The brand doesn't matter"? That's like eating shit and saying "it's all food."