USB DVDRW's No Longer Function Correctly in 15.10 or 16.04

[Patrick Gillespie]

After upgrading several systems from 15.04 to 15.10, none of the systems were able to recognize the DVDRW in userland. This was tested with two different USB DVDRW's

*-cdrom
       description: DVD-RAM writer
       product: SuperMultiPA3761
       vendor: Toshiba
       physical id: 0.0.0
       bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/cdrom
       logical name: /dev/cdrw
       logical name: /dev/dvd
       logical name: /dev/dvdrw
       logical name: /dev/sr0
       version: TO01
       capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
       configuration: status=ready
     *-medium
          physical id: 0
          logical name: /dev/cdrom

And

  *-cdrom
       description: DVD-RAM writer
       product: DVD RW DRU-830A
       vendor: SONY
       physical id: 0.0.0
       bus info: scsi@5:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/cdrom
       logical name: /dev/cdrw
       logical name: /dev/dvd
       logical name: /dev/dvdrw
       logical name: /dev/sr0
       version: SS15
       capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
       configuration: status=ready
     *-medium
          physical id: 0
          logical name: /dev/cdrom

This was also tested on 4 different systems. Three with Ubuntu and one with Kubuntu. I upgraded Kubuntu to 16.04. The difference in 16.04 is peculiar. The DVD player does not appear in any file manager. However, I could access the DVD via VLC. Attempting to play the DVD failed however. There was no sound and any option chosen on the DVD menu resulted in a blank/black screen.

This bug seems to afflict other users:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/692934/after-upgrade-to-ubuntu-15-10-can-no-longer-access-video-files-on-cd-dvd

I've also included this report here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udev/+bug/646293?comments=all

But am filing a new bug since the other seems to be dead and/or outdated.