How can you get a home-made dvd to play on a Panasonic dvd player?

I burned a movie to a dvd, thinking it would play in my panasonic dvd player, i got a 50 inch plasma tv, a surround sound stereo system, and it came with a 5-change dvd player. I spend like 2 or 3 hours waiting just to find out that it wont play. Its not the first time, either... But, then I have this other dvd (home-burned) and it plays just fine... The only difference is the dvd brand, the dvd that plays is Memorex 8x speed 4.7 gb 2 hour DVD-RW while the one that wont play is a Maxell DVD-R 16x speed 2 hour one. Plz help!!