weAponX;
I'm sure there are others that will chime in here also, but yes, if you can change booktype on your burner then you should. The reason is realy simple, when the original programming was done and the first dvd players were launched the consortium that came up with the programming made it a must that all players read dvd-rom discs. Therefore you lessen the probability that your disc will be rejected by a player if you have booktyped it to dvd-rom. You can only change the book on +R style discs though, -R dos not have that capability.
As far as the burner name is concerned, you need to know who manufactured the burner if the specs do not state whether it will burn a dvd-rom. Since many manufacturers make several burners which are simply rebadged to anothers name, I don't have a listing of all of the various manufacturers and their renamed to brand products. However Google is your friend and a lot can be learned from data mining a name brand or manufacturer.