Sooo... I'm wondering if I'm supposed to be trying to set to DVD-ROM, is this for DVD+R, am I wasting my time trying to bitset this burner, or wtf?
I tried changing the booktype on the next burn to DVD-ROM, and it said that it was successful, did one more burn, and the same results.
-R is the most unsupported "booktype" media out there. You cannot with -R media set the booktype to anything else other than -R this is because with -R media, the booktype is already on the media.
To burn dvd's with support for "picky players" such as your Pioneer standalone, you need + media where you can set the booktype (either +R or -ROM), which is then written to the +R/+R RW/+R DL (unlinke -R media which already has -R on the blank media).
Hope this helps, as so to answer you question about wasting your time: yes, trying to set the bitsetting aka booktype with -R media is a waste