This post is really just for the benifit of anyone else googling for this query. I have a Sony DRU-530A 8x writer, I'm using 4x DVD-R (Princo for what it's worth) media and burning at 4x. Everything so far that has been created has generated cyclic redundancy check errors as far as the eye can see, often to the point where Windows explorer crashes when trying to read the discs. Anyway, the solution - quite simply, is to burn at 2x.
My computer should be capable of 4x, it's fairly fast (3ghz HT processor / 1.5gb RAM / SATA disc etc), however apparently that's not fast enough. Bleh. 2x writes for me, joy! Note that this might be due to the fact that it's a fairly new drive, so there could be a firmware upgrade for it, but so far my googling hasn't returned anything too interesting.
[Edit]
Firmware upgrade and supported media list.
The firmware notes have this to say as well: Firmware Upgrade 2.1A Improvements: Improves reading and writing performance on DVD-R. Improves reliability and recognition on certain DVD-R's. Increases readability with Recordable Double Layer Disc.