Well I ended up purchasing a Plextor PX-716UF and am running it off my firewire port. So far I've ripped The Skeleton Key in 12 minutes (I had never paid attention to how long the usual rip takes). I'll be testing the burn using the DVD+R 16x media in a little while.
For what it's worth, I ended up updated my Pioneer DVR-108 firmware to a DVR-108DX version 1.18 because the descriptor said that this firmware would automatically set bitsetting for book type to DVD-ROM for both DVD+R and DVD+R/DL.
Thanks again for everyones input on this matter. Now onto another question...
With ImgBurn, as with DVDD, the drive info on the right-hand pane says the current profile is DVD+R DL. When I go to the proper section to change book-type, make the change, get the "Success!" box, the profile on the right-hand pane doesn't change. Is this normal behavior for ImgBurn?
Best Regards,
Cambion7