DVD drive failure on some DVD brands

Hello,
I've been using Taiou Yuden DVD-R's for a while on my late 2009 Mac mini (Pioneer DVD-RW DVRTS08).
Now suddenly they fail to burn (Toast Titanium 11.1) with errors like:
The drive reported an error:
Sense Key = HARDWARE ERROR (or MEDIUM ERROR)
Sense Code = 0x44, 0xD9 (or 0x0C)
INTERNAL TARGET FAILURE (or WRITE ERROR)
The drive reported an error:
Sense Key = ILLEGAL REQUEST
Sense Code = 0x21, 0x02
BUFFER UNDERRUN
Previously burned Taiou Yuden DVDs also fail to mount (the Mac mini spits them out or the drive unsuccessfully tries to read them and the only escape is to reboot with the mouse down so the DVD is ejected).
But _TDK_ DVDs burn and mount just OK. Also CDs mount OK.
The offending Taiou Yuden DVDs mount and burn OK on my old 2004 PowerBook as well as on a newer 2010 MacBook.
I have Reset PMU/SMC and the PRAM, verified the boot disk, repaired permissions, and cleaned the DVD drive with compressed air.
I suspect the DVD drive's laser is failing so it can't burn or read Taiou Yuden DVDs while it still can manage TDK DVDs. Could that be correct?
Thanks for any insights you might have!

Here's a video showing how to clean the lens in the optical drive of a Mac Mini. You might also take a look at iFixit for additional instructions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvRVyQvz08I
Fortunately, even if this doesn't work, an external drive is a fairly inexpensive option to work around your possibly failing internal optical drive.

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