[jackng]

If you are using this particular drive, my advise is to stay clear of Ritek DVD-R.
chances of it being able to burn is practially 50%. I owned this drive and it practically sucks on the -R media.

I highly recommended getting Ritek DVD+R (also called Ritek Excellent DVD+R) if you are looking for a cheap & excellent dvd recordable media. Although some might argue that -R works better on the PS2, however from my experience using a booktype utility provided by liteon to change the booktype of the +R media to a dvd-rom acutally tricks the PS2 to think that it's reading a DVD-ROM instead of a DVD+R media. (which improves compatiblity)

As you are owning an older version of the ps2, I've really no idea if it will work for you, do consider buying a piece or 2 of the Ritek +R media and try it out. If it works then you can be rest assured that the burn quality of the disc is extremely high (based on Kprobe and nero quality check util).

As for which software to burn, you can always burn using Nero (since it came with the drive) if it doesn't work, use other software like record now or alcohol, however you'll need to purchase them. Another suggestion is to get DVD Decryptor which is free.