I also left out (for sake of brevity) the fact that I had also done the same process using Craxtion and WSftp. FTP'd the files directly, then patched the xbe's and created the ISO with Craxtion, finally burning with DVDDecrypter.
What did you mean by "create an mds"? I thought you just created the iso, then burned the iso using DVDDecrypter?
I will try downloading Slayers and burning it. Hopefully that will help me rule out the media or Xbox drive, if it plays.
Thanks,
Russell