I have been using Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 8x Full-Face Printable blank media without problems. I always save my project as a disc image and burn through disk utility at 2x.
I have just purchased the new Taiyo Yuden Watershield F-F Printable 16x DVD-R but the slowest I can burn these is 4x.
I am worried about compatibility issues is the difference between burning at 2x and 4x that critical?

I have used those same discs and burnt them at 16x and had no problems with them and they had a decent amount of use since burning, over a year now and still going strong with no playback issues. I can't see a problem with having to burn them at 4x.

As a sidenote these are by far the best printed finish I've seen any printable disc I've used, they are simply amazing.

Thanks for that my burners are OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A (Sony)
As a result of your reply I contacted Apple who informed me that these burners perform best at 8x for burning DVDs and lower speeds for CDs.
I am confused because all the advice I have had in the past was to burn DVDs as slow as possible to avoid compatibility problems?

One good place to inquire is a video and audio production business in your area.

About two years ago a band I was in back in the 60s reunited and the sound was professionally and digitally captured with 44 separate tracks.

We took this raw audio to a professional studio for mixing and, of course, they used a Mac and ProTools for the software.

The first rough CDs they burned out to demo to the guys was done at a very slow speed and I asked why it was taking so long when CDs I burned at home took a couple of minutes and they explained that slower write speeds using lasers results in a better and more accurate burn whether audio or video with much fewer defects so their professional burners for both audio and video dubs cycle slowly.

So while I can't hear much of anything wrong with what I burn at home I yield to the pros and offer what they said in answer here.
goodluck