I have a Denon dvd-5000; it won'd read cd-r's

If I just wanted arrognat answers, I wouldn't have posted on audigon. There must be something different about a burned disk, but if you think about it, all disks are copies; so there may be a chracteristic about fatory burned ones that can be reproduced. It's unfortunate that the tone of three of the answers weren't in any way trying to be helpful, but ignorant; at least I was willing to ask the question.

Best I can find the first consumer sold cd recorder was a sony, about 1990-1991. I believe your Denon dvd 5000 was sold in 1999. Is that about right. I have a old Sony DVP S500D I bought in 1999. It plays cdrs just fine. Still works great my grand kids use it to watch Disney movies. Why some do and some don`t, sorry I can`t answer that. But if yours don`t I don`t think there is any thing you can do.
Beavis is right on one issue. Even today there is some DVD players sold that will not play cdrs. Even some Sony models.

Arrogant as they may be they might be right.
Check the owners manual, it might not play CDRs.

I have a Panasonic DV-A7 that cannot be more than 3-3.5 years old and it will not play CD-Rs either.

I dont think there is anything that can be done to allow the player to play CD-R if it was not built with that on the list of formats they intended it to play.

Might just be SOL with that machine.

Your trying to make your DVD play a CDr instead of a DVDr? I'm not sure of the age of your player but chances are that it has dust on the lens. If you can, take out the screws of the unit and just remove the case, nothing else. Look for the lens which should be pointing up after the case is off and unit is facing you while on it's feet. Then take a Q-tip, a dry one and place on the top of the lens and turn it around at least 20 to 30 times from the outer edge to the middle with out putting any pressure on the lens. Be careful when taking the case off as a wire tap might be hooked up to the back of the front control buttons. You don't want to break this wire so be careful. If this doesn't work your player more than likely cannot play CDr's. I fixed my son's Sony playstation this way because the unit would not load the game. It's all dust that over time lands on the lens. Uriah

HERE is a PDF file on your Denon 5000, unfortunately it will not recognize CD-R's. I found this out when I tried to run my Purist Audio Design break-in disc (which is a CD-R) in my DVD5000.

The way I got around this was to use a Pioneer DVD525, which I had laying around, as a transport to read CD-R's, and feed the digital out from the Pioneer to the Denon's digital input and use the Denon as a DAC.

The Pioneer DVD525 can be purchased for around $150 or less here on A/gon, or you can use any CD/DVD that will recognize CD-R's, and use it's digital out to feed the Denon's digital input.

I agree with you that the Denon DVD5000 is a great sounding machine. Built like a tank, with it's 40 pound, copper clad chassis, 3 seperate power transformers, and it's premimum 1704 Burr Brown DAC's in dual diff (lower noise floor) it works well as a stand alone player, transport, or Dac. It also has a built in volumn control if you want to eliminate your preamp.

HTH, Dave